The New Law
by nightnoxx
Summary: Hermione spit her tea out in shock. This was not for real was it? It had to be a joke! I mean, come on, how could the ministry do this? A marriage law? Why? Yes the wizarding population had sunk considerably during the war, but it was surly rising back up again at a good pace wasn't it?
1. The Law

A.N: This is my first ever Harry Potter fic and I'm excited and nervous at the same time. I really hope you'll enjoy this Dramione fic, let me know your thoughts in the reviews :D

Disclaimer: I own nothing, this is entirely J.K Rowling's world, and I'm just playing around in it.

Draco Malfoy was a changed man. He was not the same kid he had been in Hogwarts, making trash talk to everyone he saw as being beneath him. He did not believe in blood impurity anymore, he had seen first-hand the pure blood coming from someone he was brought up to believe was a mudblood, someone of impure blood. They were all lies he had put behind him and taken a step away from. His parents had recently passed away, his father in Azkaban and his mother in the hospital suffering from a rare disease. He was alone in the world a far as family went, the closest thing he had to family being his two best friends Blaise Zabini and Theodore Nott.

Now Draco was still not the perfect man, he was still quite arrogant and a little cocky, but he was loyal to the people who mattered most to him and he always wanted to help them and do what was best for them. Some people thought it was all an act though, that he was secretly the leader of the death eaters that were still left and was plotting some kind of revenge on the ones who helped in killing Voldemort. It was one of the rumours that Draco despised most because he had and still did hate Voldemort for ruining his childhood and for destroying so many lives. He hated that he had ever been his servant.  
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Hermione Granger was doing quite well for herself following the war. She had finished her Hogwarts education and she had gotten a great job at the ministry working with magical creatures and helping them get the best lives possible. She had dated Ron Weasley for almost a year after the war, but things hadn't really worked out and they decided they were better suited as friends rather than a couple. Hermione was doing well at work, she had good friends around her and her parents were back safely with their old memories restored. All in all, life was good. What Hermione did not know was that life was about to become one heck of a lot more complicated. Life was never going to be the same again.  
_

It was early morning and Hermione was excited to start her day. She went into her little kitchen in her cosy little apartment and made herself a cup of tea, some toast with strawberry jam and went to give crookshanks some food as well. She sat down by her kitchen table and just in time an owl came flying in through her window with today's issue of The Daily Prophet. She put some coins in the little pouch around the birds leg and gave the bird a little owl treat she had standing in a jar on her table. The owl hooted contentedly before taking off again out her window. Hermione leaned back in her chair as she rolled open the paper to see what today's news would be, whilst taking a sip of her tea.

Hermione spit her tea out in shock. This was not for real was it? It had to be a joke! I mean, come on, how could the ministry do this? A marriage law? Why? Yes the wizarding population had sunk considerably during the war, but it was surly rising back up again at a good pace wasn't it? It had been four years since the war ended; people must have started having babies. That's what usually happened after a war, a baby boom as many liked to call it. Apparently this was not the case in the aftermath of the wizarding war. And now everyone between the age of seventeen and 30 had to meet at the ministry of magic to receive their designated spouse because the ministry apparently had found a way to match everyone up with the perfect person for them. It was absurd. Absolutely horrendous. And why on earth hadn't she heard of this before now? She was working at the ministry, how could they have kept her in the dark? Hermione was fuming with anger. It was not fare!  
_

Draco sat staring at the front page of The Daily Prophet that was laid out on his desk. He had gotten up early and gone to his office and when the paper arrived he had taken a break from his paperwork to read it. It was absolutely preposterous! Draco wanted to smack the minister for magic right in the face for being as bloody stupid as to believe that this would solve anything. He would have an uprising on his hands, that's what he would have, not a solution to the population issue. Hopefully the ministry would see reason once they saw that no one would take part of this ridiculous new law.

Draco got up in a hurry, finding his coat and putting it on before he apparated to the ministry of magic. Chaos was everywhere when he arrived. People were shouting insults at the minister who stood on a tall pedestal in the middle of the entrance hall at the ministry all the while he was trying to get them all to stop screaming so he could talk to them and most likely come with some bogus explanation as to why this stupid law was a necessity.

"If everyone could just CALM DOWN FOR ONE MOMENT" minister Shacklebolt boomed, his voice amplified using an amplifying charm. The hall went quiet except for a few mumbling voices here and there. "I understand that you are all very upset by the new you have all received. I must warn you though, that there is no point in trying to resist this, it is the only way to solve things. We are a dying race, there aren't enough little witches and wizards being born so we have to do what we believe is the only way to save the wizarding kind. If you do try and resist we sadly have to send you to Azkaban. Hopefully this will be enough to make you not want to try and get out of this. I expect none of you want to go there. The ministry and myself are sorry to have it come to this, but we don't see any other options being effective enough."

Draco scoffed. This had to be a joke. Was there seriously no other options? And why did they have to be matched, could people not be allowed to choose whom they wanted to marry? This could only end one way and it was nothing good. "You will have to marry your assigned spouse within a year and within six months of marriage you are obliged to start trying to have children. Any hospital bills will be paid by the ministry in case of any problems before, during or after pregnancy. You will all be matched with someone who is believed to be most compatible with you both as a person, but also in getting healthy babies. You have all been charmed with a location charm the moment you stepped into this hall so we will know where you go if you try to run. This same law is being put in action all over the wizarding world so there is really no point in running away to a different country."

Draco had had enough. He just wanted to go home and dive into a book in the library at the mansion and pretend none of this had ever happened.


	2. The Marriage

A.N: Thank you so much for all the follows and favourites and for the positive feedback! It means a lot to me. I have the next few chapters outlined so they will probably come quite quickly. Keep in mind that I do have school so sometimes it might take a little longer for me to update the story due to school assignments being prioritized. Other than that, enjoy this next chapter and as let me know what you think ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter (sadly) it is all J.K Rowling's world, I'm just playing in it :)  
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Hermione stood in the crowd in the entry hall at the ministry taking in all the information they were receiving. Ginny and Harry were stood next to her and Ron, Luna and Neville were all there with her as well. They had all been charmed with a location charm upon arrival which she thought was a violation of free will. This was an outrageous law they were proposing. Well not even proposing, they had already started putting it in motion. How could they possibly know who everyone would be best suited with? It had to be a very advanced and elaborate piece of magic that was for sure. What frustrated her most was that no one working at the ministry apart from a select few of the highest ranking members of the ministry workers had known and decided this in collaboration with the core people of the Wizengamot.

"We have an array of booths for different age brackets and for each gender. So if everyone could please go to their assigned booths for the right gender?" the minister called out to the crowd. People started mumbling in annoyance and unwillingly started to go to their assigned booths. Hermione, Ginny and Luna were in the same age bracket so they went to sand in line together. "I don't get why the ministry is doing this to us. It's absurd!" Ginny said, she was angry. "I mean, why can't we choose our own spouses at least?" she asked. "Well, I don't think they care about that Ginny" Luna chimed in absentmindedly. "I do think they believe they're doing what's best for the wizarding world." She continued.

Hermione had to admit that Luna was probably right. Even though she didn't agree with the ministries methods, they probably did think this was the beast solution and now there really wasn't much to do with it unless you wanted to end up in Azkaban.  
_

Draco stood in the boys' line for his age group and waited to get matched. To be completely honest, he was getting a little nervous. He knew that whomever he were to get matched to would probably hate and resent him, most people did. He was Draco ex death eater Malfoy, who would want to spend the rest of their lives with him? Not that the person had much choice though, Draco thought disgusted. Draco was next in line and he met the ministry worker with an ice cold, stone hard expression on his face. "Well, no need to ask for your name eh, Mr. Malfoy." The man said, trying to be funny Draco guessed. "Just get this over with," Draco replied coolly. "Yes, sir," the man said, scrambling nervously as he wrote something down on a piece of parchment. "Okay, then, if you would follow Sarah here," he said motioning towards a woman standing behind the booth, "She will lead you to where you will be matched." Draco nodded and went to follow this Sarah woman. She was old with greying hair and she was tiny. She looked at Draco with pity in her eyes, like she felt bad for him for what was happening to him. She probably didn't know who he was, if she did she would feel any kind of pity towards him.

Draco was led down one of the corridors going away from the entrance hall and into a medium sized, circular room. In the middle of the room was a chair and the old lady motioned for him to sit down on it. Draco sighed and did what he was told. He knew there was no point in trying to resist. This I bloody stupid, he thought. " _It may be stupid Mr. Malfoy, but it is going to work brilliantly_ " a woman's voice sounded in the room. At first he thought it was Sarah, but the voice sounded too young to belong to her and when he looked around the old woman was nowhere to be found anyway. "Who are you?" Draco asked confused. " _I am a very advanced piece of magic and I will be revealing to you who your perfect match is."_ Draco scoffed, "Right." There was a moment of silence and then a bright light. Draco could feel his whole body go rigid. He felt a strange sensation of being seen, completely, like he could hide nothing. " _Oh, I already know who you belong to,_ " the voice said triumphantly. "oh, do you now?" Draco asked doubtfully. _Oh, yes, it was very clear. Some people are harder to place with a match, but you two, you clicked immediately. Now, you might not think it in the beginning, but you will be very good for one another and be able to challenge each other and make each other the best you can be._ "  
_

The door to the circular room opened and a woman came to lead Hermione to a new room. This room was a rectangular room with a sofa and a fire place. It was a little bit smaller than the room she had just been too and a lot more cozy and comfortable. She actually started to feel quite calm. It was probably a charm, she thought to herself. The woman who had followed her there was about to leave. "Ehm, excuse me, but what am I supposed to do now?" Hermione asked her as she reached for the door handle. "Why, you are to wait here and your match will be brought to you when he is found. It may take a while and it make take only minutes, we never know exactly, it all depends on the person." The woman replied. "Oh, okay." Hermione watched the woman leave and the she sat down in the sofa to wait. There was not much to do so she just sat staring at the flames.

After about fifteen minutes she heard steps outside the room. The handle got pushed down and an old woman stood in the doorway, it was a different woman than the one who had led her there so she expected this was the guide of her match. She hoped it would be Ronald or at least someone she knew a little from before. The old woman stepped aside and let the man in. Hermione was stood in shock. It was someone she knew all right. It was also someone she despised, someone who had been awful to her for years in Hogwarts. Was this some kind of sick joke?  
_

"Granger?" Draco uttered in surprise. This had to be a mistake, it couldn't be right. Out of every woman in the wizarding world it had to be her. The one person who would resent him the most! Sarah ushered him inside and left the room. He could hear the sound of the door being locked behind him, great. There were no other seating options than the sofa so Draco decided to keep standing. Granger could have the sofa to herself, he was not about to breach her personal space. "What the bloody hell?" she screeched. "Oi, Granger, it's not my fault this is happening, no need to make me deaf," Draco snapped at her. He was not in the mood for one of her emotional rants. Granger pouted and crossed her arms angrily as she turned her head away from him. She was not happy about this, not that Draco was very thrilled either. This match was not perfect, the spell hadn't worked properly, it couldn't have.

"Well, I guess since we are not stuck with each other, we should at least try to be civil toward one another, don't you think?" Draco asked Hermione hesitantly, afraid that she would have an angry outburst. " _A fine idea Mr. Malfoy_ " it was the voice again, the matchmaker. " _You will now get two options. You can either get married here and now, or you can wait and do it later with your friends and family._ " She explained. "I want this to bear as little resemblance to a wedding as possible. Let's just do it now and get it over with. I don't want to share this moment with my friends and family, it's not worth their time." Granger told the voice angrily. "Well, I don't really have any family and my friends will be busy with their own marriage matches to deal with. I'm okay with doing it now." Draco consented. " _Very well,_ " The voice said as a man entered the room, the one who would perform the sealing and binding of their marriage. And so in that little room Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger were married. Who would have thought? And life was about to become very strange for the pair.


	3. The Malfoy Mansion

**A.N: Thank you so much for the follows and faves and the reviews. I love that you are enjoying this story and I hope I can make this story the best it can be for you guys. Hope you enjoy this next chapter ;)**

 **Disclaimer: As always, his is not my world or my characters, I'm just playing with it.**  
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As soon as the marriage ceremony was done and they were allowed to leave, Hermione stormed out the door and back to the entrance hall in hopes of seeing some of her friends. She was in luck everyone was there except for Luna, who hadn't come out yet. "Oh, Hermione are you okay?" Ginny called to her as she was approaching. "No, I am absolutely not okay!" she replied angrily. "Who did you all get matched to?" Hermione asked. "Harry and I got each other, thank Merlin! Ron got Parvati Patil and Neville got Hanna Abbot. We're still waiting for Luna to see who she's gotten." Ginny told her. "What's the ferret doing coming over here?" Ron said quietly and everyone turned to look and see him walking towards the group, with the slightest hint of a smirk playing on his lips. Hermione groaned, this was not going to be pretty. "You know Granger, I don't like it very much when my wife runs away from me," Draco said as he came to a halt next to Hermione.

"WHAT?" the whole group exclaimed in unison, shock plastered on their faces. "Hermione, what the BLOODY HELL IS HE TALKING ABOUT?" Ron yelled. Hermione just stood there frozen to the spot and stared at Malfoy. Why had he followed her and why had he told them? "Well, Weasley, the spell matched us and now we're married because Granger here didn't want to make a big deal out of it or have any friends and family there when we did get married, so she said she wanted to do it today and get it over with, so we did," Draco explained. Everyone just stared at the pair. "You know, Malfoy, I can very well speak for myself, thank you very much," Hermione said in annoyance, unfreezing from her initial shock. She did not like this; she did not like this one bit. "It didn't look like it. You were stood frozen to the spot and you were gaping, staring at me, which I get because I'm a very attractive man, and I figured since you didn't say anything, I would."

Hermione couldn't believe him, he was such an arrogant, annoying ferret! And she was now married to said ferret? She was waiting to wake up from this horrid nightmare, for everything to be over. This was no nightmare though, it was reality and there was nothing to do about it. "Hang on just one second," it was Ginny who spoke. "Hermione… Is this for real? Are you really married to Malfoy?" she asked softly. Hermione sighed and nodded in defeat. "Merlin," Harry breathed. "I know," Hermione said. "It's awful… I mean, how could this be right?" Hermione asked frustration leaking through in her voice. "This is definitely not a good match; we'll end up hexing each other to bits."  
_

"Seriously, I'm standing right here," Draco muttered under his breath. They were talking about him like he wasn't even there. It had been very fun to mess with Potter and Weasel though. They were staring daggers at him, but he didn't care. The look on their faces when he called Granger his wife had been priceless and so worth it. "Now Granger, I would very much like to go home so I suggest we go and register that we got married so we can get out of here" Draco said after a moment of silence. "Fine," she replied stiffly. Life was definitely not going to be very fun in the time to come, Draco thought. As they walked away from the room and towards a booth that said "Marriage Registration" Hermione asked him why he did that. "Did what?" Draco asked innocently. "Oh, you know what you did. You didn't give me the chance to tell my friends myself," she reprimanded him. "Well I thought it would be better if we just ripped off the band aid, let them know right away. No fuzz." Draco saw Hermione roll her eyes. She was very annoyed with him.

Registration went smoothly and they were told to decide on which home they would be staying at. "The Mansion of course," Malfoy told the ministry worker, who wrote it down. "Wait a minute, don't I get a say?" Hermione asked. "Granger, I have a big mansion with lots of space you can have to yourself, we would only have to see each other during meals, whilst your apartment probably isn't very roomy and you would have to see me all the time" Draco told her. This was probably the only way to make this situation a tiny bit better for her. She hadn't chosen this for herself and she disserved better than ending up with someone like him, Draco thought to himself. He might not like her all that much, but he would try to make things as comfortable for her as he could. "Okay" Hermione said in a small voice.

When they walked back to their group Draco saw that Blaise stood there with them. What was he doing there? "Hey mate," Blaise cheered as Draco approached him. "Looks like we both ended up with someone from the _enemy side_ ," he said, air quoting the words _enemy side_. "I got matched to Luna here, so life is about to become pretty interesting don't you think?" "That's for sure," Draco replied. Luna had been a stranger girl back in Hogwarts and Draco had the feeling that not much had changed in that department. "I'm sorry Luna," Hermione said sympathetically to the woman. "Oh, it's quite alright actually," Luna told her. "I do believe there was a good reason behind this match, we just need to find it that's all." Everyone just stared at her. "Well okay then," Blaise exclaimed. "I think we'll be heading home now. I have to introduce my mum to my new bride to be, so that should be fun." "Good luck mate," Draco said and then the pair left to floo home. "Are you ready to go too Granger?" Draco asked her. "Not really," she replied coolly. "But I'll go anyway. Besides everyone else is leaving soon too I reckon, so there's no need to stay." Her and the she weasel gave each other a hug and then Draco and Hermione left to floo to The Malfoy Mansion.

They stepped out of the fireplace and Draco could see that Hermione was looking extremely nervous. He could only guess why, and he reckoned it had to do with the fact that last time she was here, she had been tortured by his crazy aunt. "Hey, Granger, I promise you won't go near that place," he told her. "It's in the far west wing and it's sealed off, so don't worry about it." She didn't respond, but Draco thought it looked like she relaxed the tiniest bit. Good, he though. No need for her to be scared to walk into that room every day.  
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Hermione followed Draco, she had no idea where they were going, but she wasn't planning on getting lost here. "So I was thinking you could take the east wing" Draco said after a while. "It is furthest from that room and it's already quite female friendly as it belonged to my mother," he told her. "Okay." Hermione was surprised at how considerate he was about this. Her expectation was honestly that he would be outraged and furious to be matched with her and she did definitely not expect him to be civil towards her. This was a whole new side of him that she had never seen before and it was very strange.

The mansion was huge. She felt like they were walking for ages to get to the east wing. When they finally got there, Draco gave her a tour. He showed her all the rooms in the wing and told him what they had previously been used for. There was the most beautiful library in one of the rooms and she was told that every book there was at her disposal. It quickly became one of her favourite rooms. There were a couple of bathrooms, a drawing room, a couple of bedrooms and a stunning winter garden with a door leading out to the outside garden which was absolutely breath taking.

In the garden there were flowers and hedges and statues and a gorgeous fountain in the middle of the garden that you had to go through a little labyrinth of hedges to get to. There were benches placed throughout the garden where one could sit and rest their feet or read a book. Hermione had never seen the mansion in all its glory before, seeing as the last time she was there were under pretty grim circumstances and she had to admit it was one of the most beautiful places she had ever seen. "You can go and do whatever you like now and one of the house elves will come and get you when dinner is ready," Malfoy said awkwardly. "I'll be in my office if there should be any problems. Just ask for directions if you can't find it." And with that Hermione was left to herself. She spent the hours until dinner exploring the garden, smelling all the flowers and taking in all its beauty.  
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 **P.S: Don't forget to leave a review with your thoughts on the story so far :D**


	4. The Theory

**A.N: Two chapters in one day, not bad eh? I had more written so I felt like posting it ;)  
Thank you for all the positiv feedback it warms my heart! I apologize for any typos in the story or if some sentences look weird, I don't always notice it and English is not my native lnguage, so bare with me :P  
There was a question about Draco and Hermione not sleeping in the same room as they are now married. It will happen, Draco is just giving Hermione some time and space as he wanted to make things as comfortabe as possible for her.** **Don't worry though the topic will soon be brought up and you can all guess how it's going to go ;)**

 **Disclaimer: This world belongs to J.K Rowling; I'm just playing in it.**  
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Dinner was awkward. Hermione and Draco sat on each far end of the table opposite each other and the only sound that could be heard was chewing and scraping of cutlery against their plates. Hermione had to admit, the food was delicious, she wasn't too happy about the fact that Malfoy had house elves working for him, but at least she could hear he was polite to them. Hermione down right gawked at him when he had warmly thanked the house elves for their dinner; this side of him was completely unknown to her. "What's up Granger, you can't keep your eyes off me. Am I really that handsome?" He had taunted her. Hermione just rolled her eyes. "Shut up Malfoy." That smug git.

After dinner Draco excused himself, saying he was going to have an early night. Hermione thought that sounded like a good idea. It had been a long day and she was starting to feel exhausted. She went back to the east wing to the room she had chosen to use as her bedroom. She had been a little surprised that Draco hadn't insisted in them sharing a room as they were now married, he would have loved to taunt her with it, but she was grateful that he hadn't. When she had gotten ready for bed he heard a knocking on her window and saw Ginny and Harry's owl outside it. She let him in and took the piece of parchment tied to its foot and gave the bird a pet before it took off left again. Hermione unfolded the paper.  
 _Hermione, how are things at the Mansion? Is it awful, how is Draco treating you? I swear if he tries anything he'll have a hoard of people ready to protect you!  
Meet me for lunch tomorrow? The usual café at 12  
Love, Ginny  
_Hermione was looking forward to some girl time tomorrow and finally after a good while she fell asleep. Her last thought being, _oh no, I have to tell my parent I got married!_  
_

The next morning Draco woke up early to get to work. He had some stuff to sort out at the town office. "Morning," he said as he passed Hermione in the hall on his way to the floo. "I'm going to work," he explained at her inquisitive expression. "Oh," was all she said. And then she walked into the kitchen. This was too weird, Hermione Gryffindor Princess Granger was living in his mansion, she was his wife. This was all very bizarre.

Around noon Theo and Blaise showed up at his office. "Hey there Draco, feeling up for some lunch?" they asked. "Sure." They headed out to get some food at the café across the street from the office building. "So we've been talking and we have theory," Theo announced. "Do you now," Draco said. "Yes," Blaise continued. "You know, we were thinking, when we met up for drinks last night and things had settled down a bit after that crazy day, that we accepted that whole marriage law spiel very quickly, like something about it feels off." Draco had thought the exact same thing when he had gone to bed last night. They sat down at a table in the back corner of the café. "I was thinking the same thing actually," Draco told the two men. "What's your theory Blaise?" "You know how they told us they put a tracking charm on us upon arrival? Well we were thinking that maybe they have used some kind of charm that would ease our minds about this whole thing, some kind of calming charm that would make us feel okay about it." He explained eagerly. "I think you might be right, and if not that, then something like it for sure," Draco agreed and the rest of their lunch consisted of eating and trying to figure out how the ministry could have done it.  
_

Hermione came to the café a little early so she sat waiting for Ginny with a book she had brought from her old apartment. She had gone there this morning only to find that it was being packed by some men hired by the ministry to bring her things to Malfoy Manor since it had been registered that they were to live there. She had gotten angry, but they had told her that there was no point in resisting it would be seen as trying to go against the new law and at that she stormed angrily out of the apartment.

"Hey, Gin," Hermione said as Ginny sat down at the table. "Hey, Mione, how are you?" she asked with a concerned expression on her face. "Well, when I went to my apartment this morning there were some men there packing up all my stuff to send them to the Mansion and I can't say I'm too pleased about that," Hermione told Ginny. "Well, it's not that surprising though is it. I mean you are supposed to live with Draco now so it makes sense for you to have your things there as well." Ginny was right, it was only logical. "Now I want to know how Malfoy treated you yesterday. Was he awful to you?" Ginny asked. "No, surprisingly, he was very civil. He even made sure I was a far away from where I was last time and he gave me a little tour or the east wing where I'm staying and of the garden. It was weird." "I'll bet it was. That does not sound like the same Draco Ferret Malfoy," Ginny said. "I know right?" The rest of the lunch was spent talking about Ginny's wedding plans, because unlike Hermione, he was going to marry the man she loved. They were going to get married anyway, this law was just making them do it a bit earlier than planned.

When Hermione got back to the manor after lunch she found her things stacked neatly in boxes in the drawing room and Crookshanks was sleeping comfortably in one of the arm chairs. Well at least he had felt right at home unlike Hermione who really just wanted all of this to go away. After she had unpacked all her boxes and found a suitable place for them a house elf came and told her Draco was back and dinner was ready. Reluctantly she followed the elf downstairs and into the dining room. She sat down in the same seat she had used the day before and awaited the food to be served. The food came and Draco thanked the elves as he had done the day before and they bowed before leaving the room. "I was told all your things were moved here today so you have now officially moved in Granger, or shall I say Mrs. Malfoy?" Draco said in a teasing tone. "You absolutely shall not!" Hermione burst out. Draco smirked. "Well _wife_ , Malfoy is your last name now and the term Mrs. is the right one to use now that you're a married woman," Draco retorted smugly. "I might be married to you on paper, but I'm not your wife." Hermione told him coolly with ice in her stare. "You're no fun Granger, can't even handle a little teasing. I realise that you don't want this life, neither do I, but it's done so let's just try and make the best out of it okay?" "Fine."

The dinner carried on in silence for a while until Draco broke the silence again. "So I was talking to Theo and Blaise today and they have a theory about why we accepted the new law so quickly," he said. Hermione had already given it a bit of thought during the day herself. "Well that's rather obvious isn't it? They obviously put some kind of charm on us at the same time that they put the tracking charm on us. There would have been way more complaining and people who would have tried to run if they hadn't." she said confidently. "Yea, that's pretty much the gist of what thy said as well," Draco replied. There was an awkward silence. They had actually had a conversation without anyone saying something mean or trying to tease the other and it felt weird to the both of them. They quickly finished their meal and went to their separate rooms. Hermione sat up reading until the clock showed it was nearly midnight. She got ready for bed and walked to the window to draw the blinds. She looked out over the grounds and there she saw Draco walking hurriedly towards the forest at the edge of the estate. What in the world was he up to this late? And why was he going into the forest?


	5. The Grangers

**A.N: Again, thank you for the nice feedback that you're giving me! This chapter was really fun to write, I watched the movie "The Proposal" last night so this chapter is loosely inspired by that. Hope you enjoy it and let me know what you think :)**

 **Disclaimer: do I even have to say it?**  
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The next day Hermione woke with the sinking feeling that she was going to have to tell her parents that she got married. She had no idea how to go about it. She didn't want to worry her parents with the whole marriage law thing They had just gotten their lives back and she didn't want to add more worries to their minds, she didn't want them to thinks she was unhappy. She was going to have to do something she really did not want to do. And if she were to do this, she was going to have to convince Malfoy to help and that was going to be hard, to say the least!  
_

Draco sat at the dining table to have some breakfast for the day. It was Saturday so he didn't have to go in to work. He was sat reading the Daily Prophet when he heard the sound of a chair scraping against the floor. He looked up and saw Hermione sitting down by the table, she was looking very nervous for some reason. "Are you okay Granger?" he asked her. "Yes, I'm fine," she replied unconvincingly. "Okay then," Draco muttered. He knew she was lying, but he was not about to question her about her personal life. He went back to reading the Prophet, not a lot of news going on lately, it seemed like people didn't find too much to be more newsworthy than the marriage law.

"Uh, Malfoy?" a cautious voice came from the woman sitting opposite him. "Yes Granger?" Draco drawled. "I have something… I need… I kind of need ask for a huge favour…" she stammered. "Go on," Draco prompted after a moment of silence. "I need to tell my parent that I got married, but I don't want them to know it wasn't out of free will or that I'm not happy. They've been through a lot lately and I don't want them to worry about me." It was understandable, but why did she need him for that? "That's where the favour comes in… I need you to pretend that we are happily married and that you are sweet and loving because that's what my mu would want for me and I'm not about to break her heart by telling her it's never going to happen for me," she explained. "What the bloody hell do you need me for? Can't you just owl your mum and tell her you got married to a nice man? She doesn't have to know who he is." Draco retorted. He was sure as hell not going to do this. "I could, but you see, my parents are going to want to meet my husband, they care about me and want to make sure he is a nice man and they would want to get to know him a little bit, especially since they will find out I got married without inviting them," Hermione argued. "oh, Merlin," Draco muttered. "I cannot believe I'm about to say this, but fine Granger, I'll be your pretend perfect husband." Draco could see Hermione visibly relax at that and he figured it couldn't be that bad anyway.

Just a couple hours later they were stood in front of the door at Hermione's parent's house. "Granger, do we really have to do this?" Draco pleaded. "Can't we just go back home?" he looked down at Hermione who was nervously fidgeting with the hem of her shirt. "No, Malfoy, I have to do this. I can't let my parents down again. I can't have them worry about me." It seemed more like she was trying to convince herself rather than him and Draco decided he was going to try and do his best to make things go smoothly. He wasn't sure why he made that decision, it just sort of happened. He looked over at Granger again who braised herself before ringing the doorbell. They could hear some shuffling and then footsteps coming closer and then the door was being unlocked and a woman who looked almost identical to Granger except a little older and rounder stood in front of them in the doorway.  
_

"Oh Hermione, dear! Oh I'm so happy to see you!" "Hi, mum," Hermione replied. Her mum was always so happy when she came to visit nowadays. She felt like she had missed so much time in the year she had been without her memories of her that she wanted to spend as much time with her daughter as possible, which was understandable and Hermione just wanted her mother to be happy. "Now, who is this strapping young man, if I may ask?" Her mother prompted. "My name is Draco Malfoy," Draco introduced himself politely. "Uhm, mum, can we come in and talk to you and dad for a minute?" she asked. "Why of course you can pumpkin," her mother replied. "Tom, Hermione is here with a man and she want to talk to us," Mr Granger called out to her husband who was somewhere in the house, probably watching some show on TV, Hermione thought. "Let's go sit down in the kitchen," her mum suggested. "I'll make you both a nice cuppa." They followed her into the kitchen and Hermione's father shortly followed them inside. He gave Hermione a hug and shook hands with Draco who politely had introduced himself for the second time since their arrival. "Now, sit down, all of you," Mr Granger said as she put a kettle on the stove to boil some water for their tea.

"What is it you want to tell us dear," Mr Granger asked his daughter curiously. Oh Merlin, this is going to be awful, Hermione thought. She looked at her parent's curious faces, both looking at her expectantly. They were probably thinking she would tell them her and Malfoy were dating, little did they know the news that were about to hit them. "So… I kind of have some big news for you… now, please don't freak out, but we kind of, sort of… uh. Wegotmarried." The last part was so ruched it was completely incoherent. "We didn't quite catch that," her father told her. "We… We got married," Hermione repeated as she swallowed hard trying not to faint of nervousness. Her parents just stared blankly at her, then at Malfoy and back at her.

Hermione nearly jumped out of her seat when Malfoy suddenly took her hand in his and gently gave it a reassuring squeeze. She looked at him and he looked back with a calm and reassuring expression. She wasn't even aware that he could make that sort of expression. She was used to the cocky smirk or the brooding look he so often wore. Now he just looked open and his eyes had something comforting to them that made her instantly relax.  
_

Draco looked over at Mr. and Mrs. Granger; they still hadn't said a word. Mrs. Granger opened her mouth as if she was about to say something, but then changed her mind and closed it again. "Please say something," Hermione pleaded with them. "Well, uhm, we, uh. This is quite the surprise Hermione," Mr. Granger said dumbfounded. "I don't really know what to say," he added. "Why didn't you tell us you were getting married?" Mrs. Granger said. She seemed to have come out of the shock and her expression started to change into an angry one. "I would have liked to have been a part of my _only daughter's wedding_." She continued. "I can't believe it! My own daughter got married and I didn't even know about it. Is this some kind of joke 'Mione?" she asked. Her voice had gotten more loud and shrill with each word and Draco couldn't help, but notice that she sounded exactly like Granger when she got all worked up over something. It was almost scary how alike they were, Draco mused. "Mum, hold on a minute, let me explain," Hermione pleaded. "Please do," Mrs. Granger said. "Okay, so the thing is, Draco's parents are both dead and I felt bad for him for not having his parents be there so I decided that we would have the ceremony for just us so that it would be more fair. Of course he wouldn't hear it at first, he said that just because his parents couldn't be there you guys shouldn't have to miss your daughter wedding." Hermione told them. "Smart man, this one, why didn't you listen to him?" Mrs. Granger asked. "Well, you see, I told him that this was how I wanted it and if he wanted to marry me then it was my way or no way." Hermione continued.  
_

"She'd stubborn your daughter," Draco shot in. "Very stubborn indeed," Mr. Granger agreed. "Now because I love your daughter so much, I just wanted her to be happy and I very much wanted to marry her and if that was what it would take then so be it." Draco continued. This time it was Hermione's turn to look dumbfounded. Malfoy sounded so convincing she almost believed him herself. "Anyway, I always had a plan to somehow make up for it," he added. "Some sort of celebration, some muggle version of a wedding maybe where you could both come and all our friends as well." At this Hermione's mum had straight up gotten up, walked around the table and hugged Malfoy. Hermione couldn't help, but let a small giggle escape her lips as she saw the look of shock and confusion on Malfoys face. She imagined he wasn't really used to get a lot of hugs, especially from people he had just met. Draco glared at her over her mums shoulder and Hermione had to bite her lip to not straight up start laughing. "Oh, this will be so much fun!" Hermione's mum exclaimed. "Oh, you must let me help plan it, it will be beautiful and I know exactly where we could have it. Oh Tome our baby girl is getting married!" "Technically we're already married mum," Hermione interjected. "Oh shush, you are not married until we have a ceremony that we're a part of. Maybe on paper, but not to me," her mum told her sternly and then she hugged her daughter and pulled Draco into the hug as well.  
_

They had stayed at The Grangers for about an hour before Hermione had excused them and said that she had some important meeting at work. They had just apparated to the front gates of Malfoy Manor and were now walking up towards the front entrance. "Malfoy, you do realize that we are going to have to do this ceremony thing right?" Hermione asked him. "Actually I hadn't thought about that," he answered sheepishly. "I kind of just said that to make your mum feel better. Didn't really think about the consequences." He added. He had really done it now. It was going to be really awkward and really hard to pull that whole thing off. Everyone except Hermione's muggle friends and family would know that the whole thing was a sham. Not the married part, but the part about them being in love. He didn't even know how they weren't found out in the short time they were at The Grangers house. "Well, you kind of were really stupid," Granger concluded. "I'm going to go read in the library, see you tomorrow for breakfast," she said as she left up the stairs from the hallway. "Yea, see you tomorrow," Draco said, but Hermione had already disappeared into the east wing.


	6. The Unexpected

**A.N: Sorry for the wait, I've been a little busy with school.**

 **Thank you for the follows, faves and reviews. It warms my writer heart!**

 **Hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: Still not my world, yada, yada… you know the drill ;)  
_**

The last couple of days had sort of just gone by. Nothing major had really happened. A few arguments here and there between himself and Hermione, but that was to be expected, it was normal. Draco went to work as usual, as did Hermione. He knew that she'd been out with her friends a couple of nights, catching up or whatever it was that they usually did. He had been out a couple of nights himself with Blaise and Theo. It had all been very normal, except for all the ways it wasn't. All their friends were either engaged or married and it was weird, but it seemed like Blaise and Theo had started to figure things out with their brides to be. Well, it hadn't really been any problems for Theo at all, he'd been in love with Daphne Greengrass for years an apparently she had feelings for him too, so this whole situation was a good thing for them. Blaise had had a bit more of a hard time though, his mum wasn't too happy about him being matched with Luna, but things seemed to have settle down a bit when she realized there was nothing to be done about it.

Draco was walking through the Manor to make sure everything was as it should and to see if all the lights were out where they ought to be. He knew the house elves would gladly do it, but sometimes he liked doing it himself, it gave him time to walk around and think. He walked into the library in the east wing, it was late and he wasn't expecting Hermione to be up at this hour. When he walked in though, he could see her slight frame bent over one of the desks, her back towards him. "Granger?" Draco asked quietly. She didn't answer. He walked up to where she was sat and saw that she had fallen asleep over a book, her head resting on her arms on the table. "Granger?" he whispered. She stirred a little, but quickly fell back into a deep sleep.

It couldn't be very comfortable to sleep sitting in a chair all night, he thought to himself. He almost felt bad for her, she looked exhausted. He didn't know what came over him, this need to take care of the woman in front of him. He carefully lifted Granger up in his arms and started carrying her to her bed. When they got there he lay her down and put the covers over her and she curled up into a ball under them, a peaceful look spreading across her face. She almost looked beautiful. _Oi, mate, this is Granger your thinking about_ , he mentally scolded himself before he slipped quietly out of the room and continued on his round through the mansion before he went to bed himself.  
_

The next morning Hermione woke in her bed with no recollection of how she had gotten there. She figured she had probably fallen asleep in the library and the house elves had probably levitated her back to her room or something and was thankful for it, because sleeping in a chair would not be good for her body. She had done it plenty of times and she always ended up really sore and stiff the next day.

It was the weekend again which meant that she couldn't escape off to work today so she would have to spend the all of her day at the manor. The Weasleys were off visiting some family this weekend and Harry was away on some kind of auror mission so she had no one to go to. At least she had a lot of books at her disposal and a huge garden to walk around in, which was nice.

She got dressed and went down stairs to eat some breakfast. When she got there she saw that Draco was sitting there already. He was eating a slice of toast as he read the Daily Prophet. He looked very calm and peaceful where he was sitting. "Good morning," she heard from behind the paper. "Did you sleep well?" he Draco asked. "Yes, I did actually, thanks to your house elves taking such good care of me," she replied. "Oh, the house elves? What did they do?" Draco asked curiously as he put the paper down to look at her. "Well, I… last night I could have sworn I fell asleep in the library over a book, as I sometimes do, but this morning I woke up in my bed," Hermione explained. "Well that's funny, because the house elves weren't here last night. They had the night off actually." Draco told her. "Then who…?" and then it dawned on her. Draco had carried her or levitated her or done something to get her into her bed, that had to be it. Either that or she had been sleepwalking.  
_

Draco could see realization crossing Grangers face and he cleared his throat awkwardly. "Maybe you were just too tired to realize that you walked back to your room." He stated. Granger lifted an eyebrow sceptically at him. "Right," she said. "It happens," Draco argued. "Mhm," Hermione said as she rose from the table. "I'm just gonna go to the bathroom, if you'll excuse me," she continued as she left the room.

"It happens? Really?" Draco said aloud to himself. He was being stupid. Why couldn't he just admit to her that he was the one who had carried her to bed? She probably knew already, she wasn't a stupid witch. Annoying, yes, but not stupid. He folded the paper, got up and put it on the table by Grangers seat; she might want to read it when she got back from the loo. Draco then walked out into the garden to get some fresh air because he was starting to have thoughts he would rather be without.  
_

 **Sorry this wasn't a longer chapter, I'm working on a chapter now though that will be longer :)**


	7. The Talk

**A.N: I am so sorry it has been so long, I've had some things happening in my personal life that has been pretty challenging and upsetting so I just needed some time to deal with it, but I'm feeling a lot better and things are finally going back to normal again so I'm back with a new chapter and will try to post more frequently in the time to come. Thank you for all the nice reviews and follows and faves so far, it makes me so happy!  
** _

"Hey, Granger, we need to talk" It had been three weeks since Hermione had moved into the Manor to live with him and Draco thought it was about time that he brought up a subject he knew none of them really wanted to talk about. "Do we?" Hermione asked. Draco had found her sitting in his mother's old drawing room and decided that today would be the day they would have the talk. "Yes, we do."

"Okay hit me," Hermione said after she had put away her book. "Well, as you know we are married and there are certain things that will be expected of us," Draco awkwardly started to say. "Urgh, don't remind me," Hermione interrupted. "Sorry," she added sheepishly when Draco gave her a strict look. "Anyway," he continued. "I think it's time we start doing some things that will maybe make it slightly less awkward when the time comes. You know like maybe start sharing a room?" He looked over at Hermione who just sat with her mouth slightly open, staring at him in disbelief. "Now don't go all crazy and hex me into oblivion, but we are married and we are going to have to make a baby… it's sort of the point of this whole thing isn't it," Draco hurried to add. Hermione's frame slumped and she looked defeated. "I know it is. I just…There is not really any hiding it, we don't like each other, we have nothing in common and I really don't want to share a bed with you" she told him. "Granger, you're hurting my feelings," Draco said semi mockingly. "I thought you loved me."  
Hermione lifted an eyebrow at him. "I'm joking, sorry. To be honest, it's a defence mechanism, I mock and tease if things get uncomfortable or if my feelings are hurt…And I have no idea why I just told you that," Draco explained.  
_

Now Hermione really was gaping at Draco. He had just shared a piece of very personal information with her and she had not expected that. By the look on his face he hadn't been expecting that either. "It's fine," Hermione muttered awkwardly. This whole situation was awkward, really terribly awkward. "I hope you have a large bed then, because I will want to be as far away from you as I can while sharing your bed," Hermione said. She knew that there was no point in trying to put up a fight about this; he was actually right on this particular point, no matter how much it bothered her to admit it. "Okay, good then, that's cleared up… I'll see you tonight then I guess," Draco said as he stood up leave. "Yea I guess so," Hermione agreed.

Hermione spent the rest of the day reading her book and talking to her mum about her "wedding plans". She had found a beautiful venue and things were coming together nicely, her mum told her over the phone. "You will be absolutely stunned when you see it next week sweetheart, I promise" she had gushed. Hermione had tried to seem convincingly excited and since her mother couldn't see her facial expression, it seemed to work. Her mother seemed to be enjoying this whole thing a lot and that was enough for Hermione. She would do anything to make her parents happy.  
_

It was getting quite late and Hermione was trying to man up and go to bed. She was stood outside of Draco's bedroom and couldn't decide if she should knock on the door or just walk in. After a couple of minutes of pacing in front of the door she decided that to knock would be the best option, so she did. "Come in," she heard Draco's deep voice from inside the room.

She was not prepared for what she walked in on. There was Draco Malfoy putting something in a drawer in his room, shirtless and in slouchy pyjama bottoms that were pale blue with white vertical stripes on them. Hermione had never seen him shirtless before and she was not prepared for how her body reacted to the sight. He had a lean muscular build that didn't quite show when he was fully dressed and it kind of knocked her silent and she knew that she was probably staring, but she couldn't help it. She was also quite sure that her heart had skipped a beat when she walked in and saw him, not that she would ever admit that. Now she knew that he was fit, after all she was pretty sure that he'd carried her to bed a couple of weeks back, but she didn't know he was this fit.

"Are you quite alright, Granger" Draco asked, sounding a little concerned. Hermione shook herself out of her thoughts and nodded. "Yes, I'm alright." Draco looked her over and seemed to decide that she was fine and then he walked over to the bed and got under the covers. "The bathroom is through that door there. You can change there as I'm assuming you won't be comfortable changing in front of me. Not that I would mind, I would love to know what's hiding underneath those clothes of yours," he said with a wink. Now Hermione was annoyed. "Are you feeling uncomfortable Malfoy?" she asked him, referring to what he'd told her earlier about how he acted when he was. He just scoffed and she rolled her eyes before she went into the bathroom to get ready for bed.  
_

Draco sat in his bed waiting for Hermione to come back out of the bathroom, he was a little nervous, like way deep down, not that he would admit that to anyone, ever. He heard the door creak and as he looked up he was stunned. Hermione was dressed in an old t shirt and some pyjama shorts, her hair was in French braids, one on each side of her head and Draco couldn't help but think that she looked absolutely beautiful. He couldn't even force himself to deny it. It was weir though, why was she so attractive to him when she wasn't even wearing anything special, she wasn't done up in any way at all, she actually looked quite tired and self-conscious as she was approaching the bed and slowly climbing in under the covers.

"This feels so, so wrong," she muttered as she was trying to get comfortable in the bed. Logically Draco agreed with her fully, but there was also a part of him that thought that this felt so, so right and it was messing up his brain. "Okay then, I'm turning off the lights if that's okay," he said after an awkward silence had built up. "Yup," Hermione responded.

The minutes passed by and Draco could not fall asleep, he was having one of those nights where sleep seemed to be impossible and he was feeling panicky. It had started in his sixth year at Hogwarts and even thought Voldemort was gone and the war was over and he no longer had the same weight on his shoulders the insomnia hadn't gone away. It had been especially bad right after his mum had died, but it was getting a little bit better. Regardless, he was now tossing and turning and was unable to fall asleep. It was very frustrating as he knew he had to get up for work in the morning. He could take a sleeping potion, but he found that it usually made him feel awful and drowsy the next day.

"Malfo…erhm... Draco?" he heard Hermione's voice speaking softly in the dark. "Yes?" he asked turning towards her. "Okay, let's just make one thing really clear first, I'm not doing this because I like you or anything, it's just you're tossing and turning that's annoying me, but I'm willing to try something to help you sleep and calm down. Now it might not work for you, but it usually works for me when I'm anxious and can't fall asleep," she explained. "What are you suggesting" Draco asked curiously. "Well… first of all, we need a little bit of light so I can see what I'm doing." Hermione told him. Draco lit the little lamp on his nightstand. "Okay… so… uhm… now, just lie here with your head over my heart," she told him. Draco looked at her in disbelief. "Are you serious" he asked sceptically. "Yes, now do it before I change my mind." "Okay, okay, but I don't see how this will help," Draco said. "Well, it might not help for you, but when I was having trouble with this either Harry or Ron, sometimes even Ginny or my parents would sit down with me and hold me to their chest. I find it comforting and hearing someone's heart beat steadily usually helps to calm me down and it usually makes me sleepy and I can fall asleep in not too long."

Draco did as she said and laid his head on her chest over where her heart was. She was warm and the sound of her heart did feel comforting and relaxing. "Do you know how unlikely this is?" he asked after a while. He was feeling way calmer now. "Yeah," Hermione replied softly with a little laugh. "I'm in bed with Hermione Granger, laying on her chest for comfort. It's weird." Draco was getting sleepier now and Hermione seemed to be breathing slower and more steadily, like she was about to fall asleep. Draco sighed contentedly, not acknowledging that little warm feeling inside him from being near Hermione and then he let sleep overtake him.

 **I hope you like this chapter. I think the ending is quite sweet if I must say so myself. I apologize again for the long wait and I will do my best not to let that happen again!  
Don't forget to leave me your thoughts in the reviews ;)**


	8. The Next Morning

**A.N: Here is another chapter for you. I know the updates have been few lately and I apologize. I have a chronic illness that is really taking its toll on me right now, so I write when I can but most of my time is spent resting and spending time with family and friends whenever I have energy.  
To the person telling me I should abandon my story, no I am not doing that. I love this story and I have plans for it, it will just take me a little time to finish it that's all.  
Again I am so grateful for all the positive reviews and for all the follows and faves, it makes my little writer heart very happy!  
Disclaimer: I don't own this world, I just play in it ;)  
_**

Draco knew it was early because the room was still quite dark. He was slowly waking up feeling surprisingly well rested. Suddenly he could feel something moving beneath his head. What in the world? He thought. Draco opened his eyes to see that he was still lying on Hermione's chest. Well that certainly was interesting, he could sleep better when he was close to Hermione. Who would have thought? Draco was starting to feel a little awkward and decided to get out of the bed. He didn't want Hermione to wake up and have him still lying there, it was weird. What was even weirder was the fact that he didn't really want to leave her. There was something so calming and soothing about her presence and he wanted more of it. _Get it together mate_ , he scolded himself mentally. _This is Granger, you don't like her remember? And she certainly does not like you._ And with that Draco got up to take a shower and head down stairs for some breakfast.  
_

Hermione woke up early, like it was still dark outside early. It was probably somewhere around five a.m. There was something heavy lying on her chest, and as she looked down she realized it was Draco. She was about to get angry before she remembered that it was her that let him lie there, she was the one who told him to do it. Suddenly she felt him shifting a little and she closed her eyes and pretended to be asleep. She knew he had woken up as he froze mid movement and she could practically feel how confused he was. She should probably let him know she was awake or something, but she was feeling a little too comfortable with him there. After a moment she could feel Draco getting up, out of the bed though and it left her feeling weird. Like she didn't want him to leave and that was just wrong. _Seriously Hermione, get your act together,_ she reprimanded herself internally. This was not a feeling she wanted to pursue so she would just pretend it never happened and make sure to forget all about it.  
_

It was later in the day and Draco and Hermione were sat eating dinner together. There was definitely a feeling of awkwardness between the pair and it was quite pitiful to watch. This can't go on Draco thought to himself as he cleared his throat and asked Hermione about her day. "It has been a rather nice day actually, work was productive and I had a nice cuddle with crookshanks as well, which always calms me after a long day at work," she answered him. "How about your day, did anything interesting happen?" "Just a regular slow day at work really. Not much that happened, other than a few meetings and a lot of paperwork." Draco told her. There was a moment of silence again before Draco decided to speak again. "You know, I have to say thank you for last night. I really appreciate it. I know it can't have been easy for you to do that and I owe you one for what you did," Draco said, a sincere look on his face. "It was nothing," Hermione answered him shyly looking down at her food and when Draco looked at her he felt something inside him that he was trying his best to ignore.  
_

 **A.N: So this was basically just a filler chapter, but I wanted you to have something to show you that I'm still here. I am currently typing up the next chapter, so keep your eyes peeled for that.**


	9. The Questions

**A.N: So here is a new chapter, I hope you like it. I appreciate all the nice reviews and all the follows and faves it makes me really happy!  
Disclaimer: Not my world, I just play in it (like always).  
**_

"I am so excited Hermione dear, I cannot wait. The invitations have been sent out to all the closest family and the venue is booked, the dress has been bought, oh, it is just wonderful isn't it darling" Mrs. Granger was gushing to her daughter. She had no clue that Hermione sat on the other end of the line feeling awful and dreading the fact that she had to ask her friends to participate in this fake wedding.

"Yes, mum, it's is" she told her mother trying to sound excited. She was sat in the drawing room in her wing of the manor where Draco had let a phone be installed so she could more easily communicate with her parents. It had been a kind gesture and Hermione had appreciated it very much. In fact she had said thank you in a genuine warm tone and that was a big improvement compared to how things had used to be. Of course it didn't mean that she liked him, she was just glad for the thing he had done. Even Ginny had admitted that it was a nice thing of him to do when Hermione had met up with her for lunch the next day.

Hermione continued to listen to her mother talking about the wedding and her plans, while her own mind was occupied with other things.

Last night she had woken up by Draco getting out of the bed. She pretended to still be asleep while she saw him get dressed. When she heard him close the door behind him, she sat up to look at the time, it was past midnight. What on earth was he up to? She went to the window to see if she could see him out there and sure enough, just like he had done the last time she saw him sneak out, he was walking into the forest behind the manor.

Now she knew that he wasn't doing this every single day, she would have noticed that as she had been sharing a bed with him for over a week now. Mrs. Granger seemed to be done talking and Hermione had not caught the last thing she had said.

"I'm sorry mum, what did you say?" she asked, still distracted.  
"I just said that I better get going, I have a meeting at work in half an hour, so I'll call you Saturday?"  
"Yes, talk to you then," Hermione agreed.  
_

Draco was having a productive morning at work, he was exhausted from being up so late, but he was feeling good about all the things that had gotten done today.

"Hey Draco, have you talked to Blaise today?" Theo asked as he closed the door to Draco's office behind him.

"No, haven't heard from him yet," he responded.  
"We shouldn't worry, we were with him the whole time and nothing happened, he will contact us when he wakes up," Draco assured Theo who was always worried about their friend after these nightly runs.  
"You're right," Theo sighed.  
"Do you want to grab a drink after work?" he asked.  
"Sure mate, I'll meet you at the bar when I'm off ".  
_

Hermione had the day off from work and she was getting restless and she was having way too much time on her hands to think about Draco Malfoy. Why was he leaving the house in the middle of the night? What was he up to? There had to be something about the particular nights he was leaving as it wasn't every day.

She had to find something that connected the two days she had seen him sneak out, something that happened both times. Had he been acting strange during the day? Well, the first time she didn't really know because she hadn't spent enough time with him yet to know what was strange behaviour for him, but she hadn't really noticed him being any different than his annoying self yesterday either.

Hermione was in the middle of a thought when she heard the door open behind her and she turned around to see Malfoy step inside the room.

"I just wanted to let you know that we have been called into a meeting by the ministry. They want to hear how things are going I think," he explained.  
"It's next week, on Wednesday at twelve,"  
"Okay," Hermione replied. He stood there for a moment before he nodded and left the room again.

Hermione then decided that to clear up this whole mystery she would just follow Malfoy the next time he left. That way she would get the truth and not just guesses that she came up with herself.  
_

Draco was sitting in his father's old office, it was now Draco who used it as his own and he was sat in deep thought about a certain witch who was beginning to be a lot less annoying and unappealing as he had used to think.

 _You have got to get a grip on yourself mate,_ Draco was mentally berating himself. _I know she's your wife on paper, but that will never be the case in reality_ , he continued to reason. It was pointless though, no matter what his inner voice said the feelings that were growing inside him wouldn't go away.

It was getting harder and harder to keep up the pretences that he didn't like her. He had been doing some things that were quite uncharacteristic of him ever since she had moved in here. He had carried her to bed, he had set up one of those muggle devices, a telephone he believed it was called and he found himself doing other little things here and there, like leaving The Daily Prophet next to her plate for breakfast because he knew she liked reading it while she had a cup of tea and some toast in the morning.

He had noticed that she particularly like this one book so he had gotten a special edition of it just for her, surprising both himself and Hermione. They were even beginning to have some quite civil and pleasant conversations during their meals together and it was definitely messing with Draco's head.

After a while an owl flew in through an open window in his office. He recognized it as Blaise's owl. He took the letter that was tied around its leg and gave it a treat from a jar that was stood on one of the shelves. When the owl had left he unfolded the peace of parchment and read it.

 _I'm okay, thanks for everything mate. You know I appreciate it  
\- Blaise Zabini_


	10. The Realization

**A.N: Here is another chapter. I'm almost done with the next chapter as well, so that will be up shortly. Thank for all the nice reviews I'm getting on this story and thank you so much to all of you who are following this story and adding them to your favourites and also a huge thank you to those of you adding me to your favourite authors. It makes me so happy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. It belongs to Queen J.K Rowling. I'm just playing in her sandbox.  
_**

Hermione stepped out of the fireplace at the Burrow only to almost be flung right back in because Ginny was a little eager with her welcome hug.

"Hey, Hermione, how are you, I feel like I haven't seen you in forever. How are things at the manor?" Ginny inquired as the two young women sat down at the kitchen table.

"It's fine. Malfoy's been surprisingly pleasant lately. Too be honest it kind of freaks me out how we can have a normal conversation without biting each other's heads off." Hermione told her friend. Malfoy had indeed been rather pleasant towards her lately, striking up conversations during meals and leaving the Prophet out for her in the mornings. Now don't get it wrong, he could still be a complete arse, but he was beginning to be quite tolerable as of late.

"I kind of have a favour to ask," Hermione began after they had finished catching up on the latest news and what not.

"Lay it on me," Ginny said, a curious look on her face.

"Well, you know how we I just got married and didn't invite anyone or anything," Hermione began. Ginny nodded.

"Yea, my mum wasn't too happy about it and basically she is arranging a wedding that my family can be a part of and I need to have some of my friends be there… So what I'm really asking is if you would mind coming to my fake wedding?"

"Of course I will come to your fake wedding 'Mione, I am after all your best friend. And on that note, I do hope you know I expect to be your fake maid of honour," Ginny gushed teasingly. Well, one down, a couple more to go.

Asking Harry and the rest of the Weasleys went surprisingly well. She thought they wouldn't want to play nice with Malfoy. They took it well though and told her that they would do it for her sake, which she appreciated a lot.  
_

"How are things in the Malfoy household," Theo asked as he plopped down on the sofa next to Draco in the sitting room of the north wing. Blaise was sat in one of the arm chairs on opposite them.

"Don't know mate, it's weird having her live here I'll tell you that," Draco said.

"You know the weirdest part though. She isn't as bad as I thought she would be. I mean, sure she can drive me crazy, but we do have quite interesting conversations. It's quite nice actually."

Theo and Blaise gave each other knowing looks.

"Is it now?" they asked in unison.

Draco rolled his eyes at them and took a swig of his firewiskey.

"You know, I thought it was weird with Luna in the beginning, but it's surprisingly nice spending time with her. She is extremely accepting as well, which is a nice change compared to a lot of other people I've known." Blaise said.

"I always heard she was a bit of a nutter," Theo noted.

"Well, she is a bit strange, I'll give you that, but it's not nearly as bad as people made her out to be. She's not a complete looney. She's very sweet actually."

Draco listened to his friends talking and fell into thought. He contemplated if he should just talk to his friends about these _feelings_ or _thoughts_ he was having about Hermione. It was always nice talking to Blaise and Theo, they were good listeners and thought they might tease sometimes, they were never serious about it, that's just what friends do sometimes, they joke around and tease, but it's never mean or condescending or anything. They were like that with each other all the time the three of them. They always had each other's backs in the end.

"Hey, can I talk to you about something?" Draco asked after a while.

"Of course you can," they responded, looking curiously at him.

"Well, it's about my…wife…" Draco began.

The two men looked expectantly at him.

"I've been having these thoughts or feelings or whatever. I don't know. I feel weird about it, but sometimes, there's just something about her. The way she looks when she's lost in a book or the way her eyes light up when she's talking about something she's passionate about. I've never felt anything like this before. It freaks me out. Also, she is Hermione Granger after all. Gryffindor princess, golden girl, war hero Hermione Granger."

Theo looked at his friend then he turned to the fire place and seemed to be thinking over what to say. Blaise seemed at a loss for words. After a few minutes Theo turned to Draco with a serious expression on his face.

"Draco, you do know that you're in love with Hermione Granger don't you?"

Draco froze. That was not the response he was expecting.

"I'm not in love with her," Draco denied quickly. Feeling a little awkward now.

"Right…not at all. _The way she looks when she's lost in a book, the way her eyes light up_ , you bloody well sound like you're in love with her. If you want to deny it, fine, but you're only lying to yourself" Theo said.

Draco looked at Blaise.

"Don't look at me mate; I happen to think he's right."

"I'll tell you how I know," Theo continued. Draco nodded an okay.

"I know, because that is exactly how I would talk about Daph, who I am undeniably very much in love with. Absolutely besotted in fact." He explained.

"Oh," was all Draco could say. He continued with taking a sip of his drink and looked into the fire, his friends snickering beside him.

"Draco Malfoy in love with a Gryffindor, and a muggleborn one at that. Who would have ever guessed?" Theo proclaimed.

"Well, I don't really care about blood anymore, you know that, so the muggleborn part isn't really too unlikely, but yea. The Gryffindor part…who would have guessed." Draco agreed.

"I didn't even guess it myself. I didn't realize that's what it was," he continued.

Draco was feeling a bit lost. He didn't know how to go from there. What was there to do anyway, he couldn't very well do anything about it. He knew that Hermione definitely didn't feel anything remotely close to that towards him. She could be civil with him, but that was just because she was a kind person. She was just waiting for an out. She was probably planning on getting a divorce the first opportunity they got. No one would want to be with Draco ex-death eater Malfoy.

He did hope though, somewhere deep inside of him, he did hope.  
_

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the reviews :)**


	11. The Firewiskey Moment

**A.N: I skipped a few days to move the story along a little bit in this chapter, I can't write every single day, it would be too long and it would be a bit boring I think. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter. I did good and uploaded two days in a row. My writing is on a roll at the moment and I love it!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter; I just play in the Harry Potter sandbox. All credit goes to J.K Rowling.  
**_

Draco could almost feel the burn of Hermione's eyes on the back of his head. He had managed to make her thoroughly annoyed with him while they had been sitting together in the sitting room of what was now Hermione's wing. He didn't even know what he had done wrong. To be fair, his ability to think was a bit reduced due to the amount of firewiskey he had consumed.

They had both consumed quite a bit of firewiskey that evening to be honest. They had been at the meeting at the ministry and they'd gotten word from Mrs. Granger that everything was ready for their "wedding". Hermione had had a bit of a freak out. The ministry worker had given them a date for their first doctor's appointment to see that they were both fit and ready to start trying for a baby. It had all been a little much for her.

"Granger, I can feel you glaring at me," Draco said as he turned to look at her. She quickly averted her eyes.

"That's because you are such a git, Malfoy," she informed him.

"Didn't you know I was born a git, love," Draco drawled.

"But, what is it that I've done this particular time that makes me a git?" he continued questioningly.

"Well, it's not really something you did right now per se; you're just so infuriating sometimes." She explained.

"And that means that you have to be angry at me at this very moment? Because I infuriate you sometimes?" Draco raised an eyebrow.

"I don't know, I guess not. I was just thinking about it and you were here and…I don't know…I guess it's the firewiskey."

"Yes, the firewiskey…you know, I think the firewiskey is messing with our heads," Draco said as he got up to put his glass on the liquor tray. He thought it wise to stop the intake now because he was a beginning to feel inclined to do things he really shouldn't feel inclined to do. And he did not think Hermione would want him to do said things.  
_

Hermione didn't really know why she was angry with Malfoy. Truth be told she was more angry at herself than anyone else because she had begun to think things that she really rather not. It had sort of snuck up on her and suddenly those thoughts were there all the time. Every time she saw him, every time he looked at her.

 _Hermione Jean Granger, you pull yourself together!_ She yelled at herself internally. _Draco Malfoy's smirk is not kind of sexy, it's annoying and you don't like it. He's a ferret and you have got to stop thinking these things right this instant_. There was a whole internal monologue going on inside her head. And on the outside that had made her stare daggers at Malfoy and now he was asking what he had done wrong and she didn't even have a proper answer.

Draco had just put his glass away and now he was suddenly turning toward Hermione who was standing next to the fireplace because she had been a little cold so she was warming herself on next to the flames. There was something in Draco's eyes, if she hadn't known any better she'd say it looked like desire. He came closer to her and Hermione knew that she should want to back away, but she couldn't quite bring herself to do so.

Draco came ever closer, he was a lot taller than her so she had to look up to see his face at this point. He was right in front of her.

"You know Granger, you drive me absolutely crazy sometimes," Draco stated as he bent down a little and their noses were almost touching.

"Well, for the record, you drive me crazy sometimes too," Hermione retorted. She almost didn't dare to breathe. They were definitely having a moment and she didn't know if she wanted it ruined just yet.  
_Draco was standing in front of Hermione and he was so close, if he wanted to he could kiss her. He was rather surprised that she hadn't pushed him away yet, or slapped him or…something. He looked her deep in the eyes. It was so hard to not do anything more.

He closed his eyes and swallowed hard as he clenched his jaw. He leaned even closer and their noses now touching. Hermione closed her eyes. Was she serious, didn't she know that was not helpful? Merlin, this was difficult. Draco leaned in ever so slightly more and she leaned in too and their lips almost touched, this was killing him, but Draco didn't want it to happen like this, he didn't want Hermione to just let him do it because she was drunk. He wanted their first kiss to be real. He wanted it to mean something.

So Draco stepped away from Hermione. It took all the strength he had but he stepped away.

"I'm sorry Hermione," he mumbled and then he walked out of the room. He looked back for a moment right before he shut the door behind him and she met his gaze for a moment before she turned her back to him and he closed the door and went to have a cold shower, because he really needed to calm himself down and clear his head.  
_

Hermione opened her eyes and saw Draco walk towards the door. She looked at him and he paused and looked back at her for a moment. She turned her back on him, she was feeling way too flustered, and she heard the door shut after him. It had to have been the firewiskey that had gone to her head because she was feeling all sorts of things when Malfoy was standing there in front of her. He nearly _kissed her_ and she hadn't even _cared_. Not even one bit. She'd actually kind of wanted him to.

What was happening? Was she going mental? She emptied what was left in her glass and put it back on the liquor tray next to Malfoy's glass. She dragged her finger along the rim of his glass where she knew his lips had been, wondering how they would feel on her own and then she decided that it would probably be best if she slept in her room in her wing that night.  
_

 **Things are beginning to heat up a bit between these two now and it's very fun to write! I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts ;)**


	12. The Forest

**A.N: This time we jump quite a week; about two weeks actually, to move things along a bit more. Basically there wasn't a whole a lot happening in the past two weeks for Draco and Hermione, just awkwardness from that last chapter, because they are being stupid about it :P I've just realised that there has become quite a lot of you following this story as well which is so cool and quite a few have added this story to your faves as well, which is awesome. I want to thank you all and let you know that I appreciate it and it makes me really happy! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!  
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, it belongs to The Queen, J.K. I'm as always just playing in her sandbox.  
_**

Ever since that almost kiss things had been very awkward between Draco and Hermione. They both went on pretending that it didn't happen, whilst at the same time being very aware of it and it just made for a weird atmosphere at the Malfoy household. They still talked during meals, but something was slightly off because they were so self-conscious about the whole thing. None of them wanted to bring up that night, even though they really should talk about it. They had gone back to sleeping in the same bed two days after the incident and things were beginning to go a little bit back to normal. It took almost two weeks, but it was getting better now.

Both their wedding and their first doctor's appointment were getting rapidly closer and they were both getting quite nervous about it. Draco had talked to Blaise and Theo and they were both coming to the wedding. That meant Draco, Theo and Blaise, Hermione, the Weasleys and Harry were all going to be there with most of Hermione's muggle family. It was going to be an interesting night.

Hermione had also gotten very determined to find out what Draco was sneaking out for because she had a feeling he would be doing it again soon.  
_

It was late and Hermione had been woken by Draco getting up again. This was the third time and she was going to find out what he was up to. She pretended to be asleep until he had left and then she sneaked out after him. She was going to figure this out.

Entering out into the garden Hermione instantly regretted that she hadn't put on a warmer jumper, but she didn't have time to go back now, she needed to keep up with Malfoy. That was not an easy thing to do by the way because he had legs that were quite a lot longer than hers which meant he moved at a much quicker pace than she did. The grass was damp and she could feel her socks get wet through her shoes. _This had better be worth it_ , she thought to herself.

Draco had reached the edge of the forest now and Hermione walked quietly a few steps behind him, making sure she could still see whilst keeping as much distance between them as possible, just in case. Suddenly he stopped and Hermione quickly ducked behind a tree. She could see that Draco looked around as if to make sure no one could see him. She didn't know who would be out here at this hour, but then again, she was out here, so you could never know.

And then something completely unexpected happened. Hermione couldn't believe her eyes. A big grey wolf was now standing where Draco had been standing two seconds ago. Draco was an animagus! The fact that Hermione didn't know he was one meant that he had never gotten himself registered. She really should report it. She knew with herself though, that she wouldn't actually do it.

Why was he out in the middle of the night though, in animal form? Hermione stood completely still, trying to breathe as quietly as she could; Draco being a wolf meant that his hearing would be amplified.

Hermione could see the wolf start to turn towards her, he had heard her, and she was screwed. Just at that moment she heard a branch crack and a sound of…hooves? And surely enough, on Draco's right, something came stepping out from the trees and into the little open patch where the wolf was standing.

It was a black mustang stallion. It was beautiful and mesmerising to look at. Hermione didn't know if this was an actual animal or another animagus. The wolf nodded at the horse and it nodded back at him, so she was guessing it was in fact an animagus and it was probably one of Draco's friends, and as she had understood it he only really had two friends and that meant that the stallion had to be either Blaise or Theo.  
_

Draco stepped in between the trees of the forest. There was a little open patch a short way into the forest, the usual meeting spot. Draco stopped there and then he willed himself to change. He felt the usual feeling of the transformation, it still felt strange, but he was getting used to it. And then he was in wolf form. He saw his big grey paws on the ground; it was a weird sensation to suddenly be something completely different. It was nice though, the wolf was a much simpler being and it was good to be away from all the messy feeling of being a human.

He thought he could hear something from behind him; Theo didn't usually come from that direction. Was someone following him? And then he heard the familiar sound of hooves coming from his right and shortly after Theo emerged from the trees. They gave each other an acknowledging nod and then they stood there for a bit listening after any signs of their friend. They were worried about him because they knew he hadn't taken his potion this month due to a shortage of ingredients from his supplier.

It was always hard on him the months he couldn't take the potion. It made the whole experience harder to handle and he ran a higher risk of doing something he would regret. He wouldn't remember to come here when he was like that so they had to listen closely to try and find him to run with him and watch him. Make sure he didn't mess up.

After a while they could hear a howl far into the forest. They looked at each other and started running towards the sound.  
_

Hermione watched as the two animals suddenly ran further into the forest. She thought she had heard a howl, but she wasn't sure. She tried following them for a while, she didn't even know why. Maybe she had a need to know the whole reason for why they were out there? She didn't know, but she soon realised that she was too slow to keep up with them.

She stopped and looked around. She couldn't remember which direction she had come from. In her hurry to sneak out after Malfoy she had forgotten her wand as well, so she couldn't just apparate back to the manor. This was not good. She tried walking in the direction she thought she had come from, but the trees seemed to only get closer together, as if she was walking further in. She took a one eighty and hoped that if she walked in the opposite direction she would end up on the right track.

The problem was that Hermione didn't really have the best sense of direction. And now she was getting stressed which didn't help the matter. Truth be told, she was even starting to get a little panicked. She was completely lost and it was actually a bit terrifying.

Suddenly she could hear the sound of a branch crack somewhere in front of her. She heard heavy breathing getting closer as well. There as something there. She hoped that it was Draco, but deep down she knew that it wasn't. She didn't have that kind of luck.

She stepped backwards and ended up in a little clearing. The moon shone through the branches, but it was still quite dark because the trees were large and the leaves were creating a pretty thick cover above her. The sound was still getting closer and she swore she could see a pair of yellow eyes glowing in the dark. She swallowed hard; this was bad, really, really, bad.

And then out of the shadows stepped a huge shadow. Hermione froze. She was going to die here wasn't she? And then the shadow howled.


	13. The Werewolf

**Disclaimer: Again, all credit goes to J.K Rowling for the creation of this beautiful world that I'm playing around in.  
_**

Draco heard a howl and then a scream. He knew that scream, he'd woken up in the middle of the night because of that scream. Dammit, what was Hermione doing out here in the woods?  
They had been running with Blaise for about thirty minutes when he had suddenly turned and bolted off in the opposite direction. T had happened so quickly and without warning that they were now hanging behind him.

Draco pushed forward as hard as he could, running at top speed. He was not going to let her get hurt. He had to be in time. He broke through to a clearing where he saw Blaise slowly advancing on a panic struck Hermione Granger. Draco growled towards his friend, trying to get his attention. It worked, he looked over at Draco. He seemed to be confused now as he looked back and forth between the wolf and the human. It didn't last for too long though, he seemed to have made up his mind and he continued stalking forward toward Hermione.

 _NO!_ Draco screamed, it came out like a loud growl. He leapt in front of Hermione. Theo had gone around to the other side of the clearing, to get to Blaise from that side, trying to use the element of surprise. None of them wanted to hurt Blaise, but they knew that they would probably have to now, because the werewolf was not likely to back down when a prey was this close. Blaise growled at them.

Draco glanced behind him and saw that Hermione had pressed her back up against a tree. She stood completely frozen and her eyes were wide with fear. She wasn't stupid; she realized that this was a dangerous situation. Draco wanted to tell her to run, but he could when he was still in animal form and he couldn't really turn back now because that would put them in even more danger. He tried to motion with his head that she should run away, but it didn't seem to get across, she just stared right into his eyes.  
_

Hermione met the icy grey eyes of Draco; he was still in wolf form. He had jumped in between the werewolf and herself. She knew that he was trying to tell her something, he was motioning with his head. Logically she guessed that he wanted her to run, but her bod was frozen. She was afraid. No, not just afraid, she was terrified. She knew that werewolves were dangerous. She had been there when Lupin turned and he had tried to kill her, Harry and Ron. Sirius had tried to stop him and Hermione herself had been a part of distracting him.

This wolf was likely much younger and more often than not a younger wolf tended to be even more aggressive and unpredictable. It could be helped with a wolfs bane potion, but this one didn't seem to have taken one.

The werewolf kept moving toward her and Draco and Draco turned and growled at it. Making himself as big as he could. She should have just stayed back at the manor. She was too curious for her own good. Finally she felt that she could move, she knew that she had to run and so she did. She sprinted away from the clearing and she heard the werewolf howl behind her and then she heard it follow her.

She ran and ran, she didn't even know what direction to run, but she just ran. Suddenly she heard hooves come up next to her. The horse ran in front of her and blocked her way. She almost crashed right into it. Then the horse motioned it's head towards its back. It wanted her to climb up on its back.

"Thank you", Hermione panted as she found a rock to stand on to be able to climb on top of the horse that was making himself as small as he could. And then they were off. Hermione clambered herself to his mane as they sped through the forest. She bent her head down as close to the head as she could as to avoid having too many sticks and branches hit her.

She heard growls behind her and when she looked she saw that Draco had tackled the werewolf. _Be careful Draco,_ she thought. After a few more minutes of running they broke out of the forest and were now in the garden. The horse didn't stop until he reached the entrance to the manor. She could still hear howls coming from inside the forest, but they didn't seem to be getting closer, so Draco must be managing to keep the werewolf there.

Hermione jumped down from the horse and said another thank you before hurrying inside. Before she closed the door she watched as the horse started galloping at top speed back to the forest.  
_

 **Not the longest chapter, but it's quite dramatic so I felt like this was the right place to stop it. I don't want to put too much stuff going on in each chapter, but the next chapter will be up soon though, so keep your eyes peeled. And as always, let me know what think about the chapter in the reviews.**


	14. The Worrying

**A.N: I apologize for the long wait, I've been ill…  
Disclaimer: All credit to the queen J.K Rowling, as always**  
_

Hermione sank to the floor with her back leaning against the door. That had been too close. She had almost been really hurt, maybe even killed. Why on earth had she thought it a good idea to follow Draco into that forest? Why was she so damn curious?

When her breathing had calmed down a bit and she was a bit calmer she started to worry about Draco. How was he doing out there? If he was hurt it was her fault. She wouldn't be able to calm down completely until Draco was safely back. And she hoped his friends didn't get hurt either. The one who was a werewolf hadn't chosen this life at least that's what she assumed, and the other was now in a fight with it because of her.

Hermione got up off the floor and made her way to the kitchen where she made herself some tea and sat down to wait for Draco.  
_

It was a heck of a fight going on between Draco and Blaise as Theo came galloping back. Both of them had gotten pretty banged up. Draco whined as he took a blow to the head. That really hurt. Theo stepped between them and stood up on to legs as he whinnied loudly. Blaise was taken aback and the large animal, it clearly frightened him. The hooves were dangerously close to his head.

Apparently Blaise valued his life even in werewolf form because he turned and ran away from them. They could hear him howling in the distance after a while and they breathed a sigh of relief. Now that Blaise had been taken care of, Draco was letting himself worry about Hermione. Was she doing okay? Was she still scared? Draco wanted to go to her and make sure she was okay.

He locked eyes with Theo for a moment and then he motioned his head toward the manor. He knew what Draco wanted, not even wanted; he needed to make sure she was okay. Draco bowed his head as a thank you and then he turned and ran toward his home, towards Hermione.  
_

Hermione was still sat in the kitchen, she was onto her second cup of tea, when she heard a door being flung open in the hallway just outside.

"Granger?" it was Draco, yelling her name.

"I'm in the kitchen," Hermione called out to him, hopefully loud enough for him to hear.

The door to the kitchen burst open and a frantic Draco entered the room hastily making his way over to Hermione.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt? How are you feeling?" he asked, his words hurried and his voice full of concern. He had grabbed Hermione by her upper arms and looking her straight in the eyes.

"I'm fine Draco. I'm okay," she told him as she breathed a sigh of relief that he was okay as well. He had a couple of scratches here and there, but nothing that looked serious.

"Good" Draco said as he let her go and sat down in a chair next to her. He put his face in his hands as he rested his elbows on the table.

"I thought he was going to kill you. I was afraid I'd be too late."

"I thought he was going to kill me too," Hermione admitted.

"I didn't have a wand or anything and I was so scared I couldn't think clearly for a while." She continued.

They sat in silence for a while after that, both happy that the other was fine.

"Draco," Hermione said after a moment.

"Yes?"

"Thank you for saving me."

"You're welcome, Hermione."  
_

Draco lifted his face from his hands and looked up at Hermione again. She looked tired.

"I didn't know you were an animagus" Hermione stated.

"You wouldn't know, I haven't exactly registered." Draco said sheepishly.

"I figured. You really should have," she said.

"Yea, probably, but it was better without anyone knowing considering the reason why I became one was so that I could be out running with my werewolf friend." He told her.

"Right"

"We should go to bed" Draco said after another moment of silence.

He was exhausted and he knew that Hermione probably was too, even if she didn't say anything.

"Okay," she replied.

And then then walked upstairs to their bedroom to get some much needed rest after a night of stress and fighting and worrying.  
_

 **Again, I'm sorry for the long wait, and sorry that this chapter wasn't very long either. Next chapter will be the wedding so look forward to that. I'm feeling a tiny bit better lately so hopefully chapters will be a bit more frequent again. The reason why I can't give you an exact time for when new chapter will be up is because I never know when I will be ill and when I will feel well enough to actually write. I'm sorry about that, but that's just how my life is right now. I hope you can be understanding and patient. I will finish this story. I just might take a little while.**


	15. The First Kiss

**A.N: We've just passed 100 followers, which is absolutely amazing! And also almost 50 faves which is also really cool! I appreciate all of you for following along with this story and being patient when I can't always upload as quickly as I would like.**

 **I know I said in the last chapter that this would be the wedding, but I had something I wanted to get in before that, so it will be in the next chapter instead :P**

 **Also I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who are leaving such nice reviews, it warms my heart and gives me loads of motivation and makes my sick days a bit better, so thank you from the bottom of my heart! Anyway, on to the next chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: This world belongs to J.K Rowling; I'm just playing in it.  
_**

There were two more days until the wedding and Draco and Hermione were at their doctors' appointment. Hermione was very stressed about the whole appointment, she wasn't ready for this. This made it so much more real that she was actually going to make a human with Draco Malfoy, which again meant that she was going to have to sleep with him.

If she was being completely honest she wasn't dreading the actual act of making a baby the most, it was the baby part. She didn't feel ready to be a mum yet. She did however feel that sleeping with Draco, at some point, maybe wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

"Okay, Mrs. Malfoy, the results will be sent to you via owl shortly." The Healer who had examined Hermione said. The title sounded strange in Hermione's ears, she wasn't used to being called a Malfoy yet.

"Thank you," Hermione told her as she got up to leave.

Draco was waiting for her in the waiting area near the entrance; apparently he'd been done before her.

"All well?" he asked her he got up to join her in the fireplace to floo back to the manor.

"I guess so, the Healer said they'd owl me the results" she replied.

"Then we're in the same boat," Draco told her before he dropped some floo powder and stated where they were going. And off they went.  
_

Draco was feeling a little anxious. The wedding was two days away and he was _not_ ready for it. All of Hermione's family would be there and her friends. He only had two people on his side. It was honestly a bit frightening. Not that he would ever tell anyone that though.

Draco sat down at his desk in his office to deal with some paperwork that needed sorting when he heard a tapping sound on his window. An owl was outside waiting to be let in. Draco opened the window and took the letter from its leg. The bird left quickly again. It was a letter from St. Mungo's. He opened it and quickly read through it. Basically all was well with his _equipment_ and he was cleared to begin reproducing as they put it.

Draco sat back down in his chair and leaned is head against the headrest as he closed his eyes and let out a tired sigh. Draco did not feel ready to become a father just yet.  
_

Hermione sat on the bed in her and Draco's bedroom with the letter from St. Mungo's in her lap. Everything was as it should be. According to the healers she was even likely to get pregnant on their first try. She took a deep breath before she got up to draw herself a bath. It was something that usually calmed her down. On her way she picked up one of her favourite books so she could read while she was in the bath.

After about an hour she hear a knock on the door and one of the house elves called to her that dinner was ready.

"I'll be down in a minute" she called out as she wrapped a towel around herself and went to get dressed.  
_

"So, Granger, did you hear from the hospital?" Draco asked after they were seated and had both begun eating away on their meal.

"Yes, I did," she told him.

"And all was well I presume?" he asked awkwardly

"Yes, it was. And for you?" Draco could swear she was blushing slightly as she asked the question.

"All is as it should be, yes,"

"Okay then."

They continued with their meal in silence, the only sound were chewing sounds and scraping of cutlery. When they were finished they didn't quite know what to do with themselves.

Draco cleared his throat.

"Uhm, would you like to go for a walk in the garden?" he asked her.

"Okay" she responded hesitantly.

Draco had talked to Theo right before dinner and the conclusion to their conversation was that Draco was going to use what he had learned growing up as a pureblood and basically court Hermione. That's what one did when they fancied a woman and that was what he would do. He had decided that he would make her see that he was a different man, that he could be worthy of her.

Draco led the way out to the gardens. And as they stepped out into the fresh air he offered her his arm. Hermione looked confused.

"You're supposed to link your arm with mine Hermione," Draco said, chuckling a bit. This was probably not what she was used to.

"Oh, right," she mumbled and took his arm.

They could see the sun starting to set behind the trees as they were walking and Draco started to ask her questions about herself. Her likes and dislikes, what she had wanted to become when she was a little girl, what her favourite books were and so on and so forth. It hadn't taken too long before Hermione had loosened up a bit. Anything to do with books and she was sure to start talking.

Draco was captivated by her as she was talking. She was beautiful as she walked there beside him and Draco couldn't take his eyes off her.

"Draco?" she asked after they had walked in silence for a bit.

"Yes Hermione?"

"I was just wondering about Blaise and Theo. Which one is the werewolf?"

I looked at her for a second before responding.

"Blaise" I told her. She just nodded.

"Is he okay? I mean after that night?" she asked.

"Yes, he feels awful about what he almost did, but he's okay"

"Good,"

They hadn't rally talked about that night since it happened. Draco figured that Hermione needed some time to process it all.

Draco looked down at Hermione again; they had stopped by this little pond with glowing fish in it. She was looking at them fascinated. The sun had set and the moon and stars had come out. It was getting late, but they were both feeling so comfortable in each other's presence.

There was a gust of wind and Hermione shivered.

"Are you cold?" Draco asked her.

"Maybe a little," she replied shyly.

Draco shrugged off his jumper and handed it to Hermione. She looked unsure for a minute.

"Won't you be cold?" she asked him.

"I'll be fine," He told her.

Then she put his jumper on and Draco felt a sense of satisfaction. It was something about her wearing his jumper, like she belonged to him now in some way. It was way too big for her, but Draco thought she looked adorable. Draco couldn't take his eyes off her as she stood there in the moonlight. She was so beautiful. He didn't know what came over him, but in that moment, under the stars, he simply could not help himself.

He stepped toward Hermione, careful not to move to fast, giving her the chance to back away if she wanted to. He lifted his hands and held her face in them, looking into her eyes with a serious expression on his face.

"Hermione," he said in a husky voice.

"Yes" she breathed.

"I'm going to kiss you now" he informed her.

She just nodded as she closed her eyes. He leaned down and gently pressed his lips to hers.  
_

Draco's lips touched Hermione's and they were soft, yet firm and they were warm and it was the most perfect kiss. The moon and the stars shone above them and the glowing fish swam beneath them in the pond. When their lips parted they rested their foreheads together and slowly opened their eyes gazing at each other.

"I think I might really like you Draco Malfoy" Hermione whispered as she smiled up at him.

"I think I might really like you too Hermione Granger," he whispered back giving her a crooked smile that gave her butterflies and then he pressed his lips to hers again. It didn't last long, but it was sweet.  
_

It was a while later and Hermione was sat in the bed reading a book as Draco was in the bathroom washing up before bed. She couldn't really concentrate on the book though. She kept replaying their kisses in her mind. She had never thought that this would happen. She had not, in her wildest dreams ever imagined that she would one day start to fall for Draco Malfoy. And look at her now.

Draco climbed in to bed next to her.

"Thank you for a lovely evening Draco" Hermione said when he had settled in.

"You are very welcome" he smiled at her.

"I have to admit that the whole wedding thing will be a bit easier now" he said again smiling that crooked smile.

Hermione sighed. The wedding…she had almost forgotten about that. No matter how much she liked Malfoy, a day where she would be centre of attention was not something she would enjoy.  
_

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Finally they kissed! I will try and get the next chapter up as quickly as possible for you, so keep your eyes peeled.**


	16. The Wedding Night

**A.N: So I have changed the rating of the story from T to M because, well… with a wedding comes a wedding night. So if you don't like reading fluff/lemons then this chapter probably isn't for you :P  
(this chapter is dedicatet to one of my best friends who was really excited for Draco and Hermione to have a steamy wedding night, you know who you are, and this one's for you babes)**

 **Disclaimer: I sadly do not own this world or these characters, they belong to J.K Rowling, the queen, and all credit therefore goes to her.**

"Wait; hold on, Malfoy did what?" Ginny almost shouted at Hermione as they stood in the dressing room at the wedding venue. Her hand froze half way up the zipper on Hermione's dress.

"He really kissed you? When?"

"Two days ago. We went for a walk and it just sort of happened" Hermione confided in her friend just as Luna stepped in the room.

"I see you've told Ginny then, what happened with Malfoy?" she said in an airy voice.

"How did you know?" both women asked, looking at Luna in surprise.

"Oh, Malfoy and Theo were over last night and after they left Blaise told me." She let them know.

"Malfoy talked to them about it?" Hermione sounded surprised.

"Well, boys do talk about those things too Mione," Ginny said, shrugging.

"Right"

Hermione walked over to the full body mirror then, because Ginny had finally been able to zip it all the way up after the initial surprise. Hermione was barely able to recognise herself. She was wearing a simple, yet beautiful wedding gown. It was floor length with a short train and short sleeves. Ginny put the veil on her head and Luna helped make it hang right down her back. It reached all the way to the floor and a bit past the train on her dress.

"Oh, Mione, you look absolutely stunning" Ginny and Luna both gushed.

Draco stood in a dressing room on the opposite side of the building where the wedding would be held as Hermione. He had gotten dressed and he was currently getting a pepe talk from his two best friends.

"You know, at least you are having a wedding with someone who actually likes you now. She could still have loathed you and that would really make this day awkward." Theo pointed out.

"Yea, mate, and you can handle a couple of muggles. It'll be fine" Blaise added, giving Draco a pat on the back.

Draco had admitted his nerve about this whole thing. Being in the same room as all of Hermione's family friends from the muggle world in addition to the Weasleys and Potter was making him feel a tiny bit panicky. Also the fact that he knew very little about how things would go down made him anxious as well. He only knew how wizarding weddings worked.

"It's time Draco," Theo announced after a quick glance at his wrist watch.

Draco took a deep breath and walked out of the room.

Draco stood at the end of the aisle; in front of what he had been told was a priest. He was the one who would marry them. He was waiting for Hermione to enter the room. After a couple of minutes music started to play and the doors opened to reveal Hermione and her father with Luna and Ginny walking behind them making sure the train of the dress and the veil were all right.

Hermione looked breath-taking. Draco couldn't take his eyes off her. She was utterly beautiful and he couldn't believe he was so lucky as to be married to this woman. It seemed like forever before she reached him and then she was there in front of him and she looked at him, slightly blushing and Draco felt his heart jump. No one else in the room mattered anymore. Only Hermione mattered, and she was perfect.

And it was then that Draco knew that Hermione was the love of his life.

The wedding ceremony had gone really well. All the words were said correctly, Hermione's mum had cried and then they had all walked over to the ballroom. There had been hugs and well wishes from everyone and then there was dancing and food and the cutting of the cake. There were loads of photos being taken and gifts being given to the bride and groom and then everyone had followed the happy couple outside to a car that said _Just Married_ on the back window.

Hermione and Draco were driven to a beautiful little cottage that belonged to one of Hermione's family members. This was where they were to spend their wedding night. They walked into the bedroom where their suitcase had been stored by the king sized bed.

Hermione was feeling relieved that the day was finally over. She wasn't really a huge fan of being the centre of attention. Hermione was also a little nervous because she had made a choice in the last two days after their kiss that they would have a proper wedding night.

She wasn't exactly sure how to go about it, but she did feel ready. The last two days had filled with conversations to learn as much as they could about each other and also a good bit of snogging in between because when they had finally caved to it that moonlit night, there was no going back. Hermione had learned so many things about Malfoy that she'd never thought were possible. She learned about his past and about his dreams for the future. She still had a lot more to learn about him of course, but she was getting to know him pretty well.

"Draco?"

"Yes, Hermione?"

"I've been thinking, and I want you to know that I want us to have a proper wedding night," the blush creeping into Hermione's cheeks was adorable.

Draco was taken aback by her confession. He hadn't expected her to want to do that so soon. Of course he wanted to, but he had never dared to hope she wanted to yet.

"Are you absolutely sure Hermione?" he asked her seriously.

Hermione put her hand on each side of Draco's face making sure they locked eyes.

"Yes Draco Malfoy, I am absolutely sure," she said earnestly.

Draco looked deep into her eyes, looking for some sign of doubt or hesitation. He found none. He felt Hermione's arms fall from his face as she turned her back to him.

"Will you help me out of my dress?" she asked him softly.

"Of course I will my beautiful bride" Draco replied as he began unzipping her dress.

As he started to pull the sleeved down he placed kisses on her shoulder, moving slowly towards her neck. He could kiss Hermione for all of eternity and never get enough. The dress fell down and pooled at Hermione's feet and she turned back around and faced Draco once more. Then she began to remove his clothing and soon they were both stood in only their underwear. Draco's boxers were feeling rather tight.

He took Hermione's hand and led her to the bed before laying her down on it.

Hermione felt her heart beat faster and her stomach fluttered, nervously, a good kind of nervous, as Draco hovered above her, placing kisses on her neck, her shoulder, down her stomach and she was feeling a kind of desperation for more building inside her. She grabbed Draco's face and brought his lips to hers. His kisses ere soft, yet passionate and it made her feel all tingly.

"Are you really sure about this?" Draco asked her again. She knew that he didn't want her to do this unless she really wanted it.

"Yes"

And then he swiftly managed to flip them around so that Hermione was now on top. He then proceeded to remove her bra as her still kiss her. Their kisses growing deeper and hungrier with each one. Soon they were both free of all clothing and they revelled in the feeling of skin against skin.

Draco slowly, almost hesitantly let his hand go from her back to cup her breasts. The feel of his touch sent shivers down her spine. Soon both his hand were on her breasts, gently massaging them and stroking her sensitive nipples. Her skin burned everywhere his hands had been. It felt wonderful, nothing like she had ever experienced before. After some time Draco moved so that he was again on top.

Hermione looked up at him as their hand intertwined. His eyes were burning with desire as she was sure hers did too. And then he positioned himself and slowly entered her.

Hermione had not been ready for how her body would react to this. It was like an explosion of feelings and passion and she felt a moan escape her lips as she arched her back to meet Draco's slow thrusts. He was so gentle, yet so intense.

When a moan escaped Hermione's lips Draco felt triumphant. He had made her moan. Draco Malfoy, Slytherin Prince, ex-death eater, had made Hermione Granger, Gryffindor Princess, moan. She felt exquisite and he wanted to this to never end. He had never felt like this before.

When he felt her arching her back to meet his thrusts he almost lost it. His thrusted more deeply into her and was rewarded with a couple more moans and it was the most beautiful sound he had ever heard.

And so it continued into the night. They were one tangled mess of body parts and bed sheets. They were taking their time, making sure to enjoy every minute of it, to really feel each other and explore every inch of each other's skin. They were breathing heavily and there was an almost desperation in the way they held on to each other as they knew they were getting closer to the end.

Hermione felt herself respond to every touch from Draco. He knew just where to stroke and kiss to make her go cray and he quickly learned how to make moans escape her lips. He softly suckled on nipples that had grown so sensitive and it felt wonderful. Hermione buried her hands in Draco's hair, leading his lips back to her lips, so she could enjoy more of his kisses.

Draco was thrusting harder and faster into her and then he moved his hand down between them and rubbed circles on her clit. It made her eyes roll back in her head from the pleasure. And she could feel herself coming closer to the edge.

They were holding on to each other, almost desperately and moans were now escaping both of their lips. And then her orgasm came almost like an explosion and Draco breathed her name as he too came.

 **So, that was the first time I've ever written fluff like this. I hope it was okay.**

 **A.N: I have not forgotten about this story, but it will be a little while until the next chapter.. I have some personal stuff going on plus I have hit a little bit of a writers block with this story, but I am slowly, but surly writing on the next chapter. Just wanted to** **let you know**


	17. The Suspicion

**I know, I've been gone for way too long. Life happened and I've been really sick, so yeah.. I also had major writers block, which sucked. But I'm back, for now at least, with a new update! I hope you like it.**  
 **Disclaimer: as per usual, all credit goes to the wonderful J.K Rowling. This is her world, I'm just playing in it.**  
 **_**

It had been about a month since the wedding and Hermione was sat on the bathroom floor hunched over the toilet feeling absolutely horrendous. She was sure she was about to vomit. She knew what this most likely meant. She had counted back in her head many times to make sure she wasn't wrong.

She knew that this was supposed to happen, this was the reason for the whole marriage law. They were supposed to help the wizarding population rise. Hermione just didn't feel ready, she was scared out of her mind. This was something she really didn't know much about. She'd barely even held a baby, let alone taken care of one.

She knew there was only one way to find out. She was going to take a pregnancy test. She would head to muggle London and get one there. This was something she wanted to do the muggle way first before she would go and see a healer at St. Mungos.  
_

"Hermione, are you okay?" Draco stood outside the bathroom that was connected to their bedroom. Hermione had suddenly just run in there looking like she was about to be sick and Draco was worried for her.

"I'm fine Draco, just feeling nauseus that's all" she told him.

"Let me know if there's anything I can do."

"I will."

Draco wasn't too sure how to handle a sick Hermione. Up until this point none of them had been sick at all and the only other sick person he had helped care for was his mother, but even then, healers did most of it.

Draco sent for one of the house elves to get some water and toast with butter, it was something he knew to help with nausea so Hermione could have it in bed when she came out.  
_

It was later that day and Hermione had owled Ginny to meet her in the Leaky Couldron so they could walk out in muggle London and get a pregnancy test. Ginny didn't know that yet though becasue Hermione wanted to tell her in person.

"Hey Mione!" The red head announced her arrival walking up to the table where Hermione was sat drinking a cup of tea.

"Hey Gin." Hermione greeted her friend.

"So what's new with you?" Ginny asked after she had placed an order for a tea of her own.

"Well," Hermione began as she leaned closer to her friend and lowered her voice into a whisper.

"Ginny, don't freak out, but I think I'm pregnant"

Ginny sat there with a shocked expression for a minute. It was clear that this was not what she expected when she met up with Hermione that day. But after a short while she shook herself out of it.

"Okay, well, have you seen a healer yet? Does Malfoy know? How do you feel about this?" Ginny asked in a hushed voice.

"No, I haven't seen a healer yet, that's kind of why were here actually I want to go into muggle London to get a pregnancy test. And no Draco doesn't know and I don't know how I feel about this. I think I'm a little scared to be honest."

"Wow," Ginny whispered.

The two young women finished up their tea before heading out to find somewhere to buy a pregnancy test.  
_

Draco was sat in the drawing room in the north wing with Theo and Blaise. They had come over shortly after Hermione had gone to meat Ginny at the Leaky Couldron. Hermione had felt alot better after she'd eaten this morning and Draco was glad. He didn't want Hermione to be sick.

"So where's the Mrs?" Asked Blaise cheerily.

"Meeting Ginny" Draco told him.

"Ah, having a girls day out?" Theo chimed in.

"Yup"

The three men sat talking and laughing with eachother and Draco felt happy and he was glad to have a day to catch up with his mates. He hadn't seen them too much after the wedding except for going out to run with Theo and Blaise during the full moon. They had all had things going on in their lives. Theo and Blaise had both had their weddings and life had just been busy as of late with work and things.

"I have to tell you something," Theo said when he was halfway through his second glass of firewhiskey.

"I think Daphne might be pregnant"

"Woah," Blaise uttered.

"You sure mate?" Draco asked.

"Well, she's been nauseaus every morning for a week now and she went to see a healer today and wouldn't say why." Theo explained.

"Merlins beard, that's something" Blaise said.

"Yeah."

The men fell into thought then. None of them really knew what to say. They hadn't really thought about the whole baby part of things yet. They knew it was bound to happen, it was just really strange now that one of them might actually have an actual baby on the way.

And Draco had a thought in the back of his mind. His wife had just that same morning been nauseaus and she had been a little weird as well and she had rushed off to meet her best friend. And as he took a sip of his firewhiskey the only thought going through his head was that he had no clue how to do this.


	18. The Announcment

**Here's another chapter for you. Hope you like it :)**  
 **Disclaimer: as per usual, all credit goes to queen J.K Rowling**  
 **_**

Hermione and Ginny sat on the sofa in Ginny and Harry's flt staring at the stick in her hand. Harry was at Rons so he wasn't there, which was why they had gone back to Ginnys place.

"Wow," Ginny whispered awestruck.

"Yeah," Hermione whispered back.

The test had clearly shown two lines which meant that it was positive. Hermione was now officialy the firt person in their friend group to be pregnant. Now of course this had been the point of this whole thing, the marriage law and all of it was to repopulate the wizarding world and Hermione was glad that she and Draco had come to care for each other, maybe even love each other, but the thought of having a child with him was still so binding, so strange and nothing would ever be the same again once this baby was born.

"Are you okay?" Ginny asked quietly after a while.

"Yeah, I just... I feel like we should have had more time you know. More time to get to know each other, more time as a couple, just the two of us. Things will be so different now." Hermione voiced her concerns to her friend.

"Yeah, but hey, you still have some time left, make the best of these nine months, get to know each other even better and grow as a couple," Ginny encouraged.

"You're right. We do still have some time left," Hermione agreed.

It would all be fine. They would go on dates and hang out and prepare for the arrival of their baby together and everything would be okay.

"Oh Merlin!" Hermione suddenly burst out.

"What?" Ginny sounded alarmed.

"I have to figure out how to tell Draco!"  
_

Draco woke up with his head on his desk the next morning, he had gone in his study the night before, right after Theo and Blaise had left and had on of the house elves find a many books as possible on pregnancy and babies. He had been up reading most of the night until he had crashed from tiredness.

He had read about pregnancy symptoms an hormonal changes and mood swings and how pregnancy could cause random magical outbursts in a pregnant witch if she got too emotional. It was all very overwhelming, but he felt like he needed to know these things beforehand so he could be prepared for what was to come. Even if Hermione wasn't pregnant yet, she would be one day and he had realized that he knew next to nothing about pregnancies or babies for that matter. Draco got up from his chair and stretched when heard a knock on the door. He quickly covered up the books he had been reading.

"Come in,"

"Hey, Draco, did you fall asleep in here?" Hermione asked. Draco thought she looked slightly nervous.

"Yes I did. I was doing some research and I must have fallen asleep," He replied.

"Please sit," Draco gestured towards a chair in front of his desk.

Draco sat down in his regular chair as well and then waited expectantly as Hermione seemed to gather up the courage to talk to him.

"I have something to tell you," she admitted.

"I had guessed as much," Draco informed her. This all seemed to formal, but they were both nervous it seemed.

"Well, I'm just going to come right out and say it I guess," Hermione took a deep breath.

"Draco, I'm pregnant,"

There was a pause and Draco just looked at his wife. He had suspected it and he still felt unprepared for the words to come out of her mouth. He was going to be a father. He didn't know anything about being a father. The only example he had was his own father and that was hardy something to strive to resemble.

"I met with Ginny yesterday as you know and we went into muggle London to buy a muggle pregnancy test and it was positive and then we had a little freak out at Ginny's place and then we went to St. Mungo's to get me checked out there and they said I was pregnant too so I'm certain that I really am." Hermione explained.

Draco got up from his desk and pulled Hermione to her feet, then he took her hands and looked her in the eyes.

"I'm going to be a father?" Draco asked. She'd already tol him so, but he needed her to say it again. He was terrified, but somewhere inside him was a tiny bit of excitement about the fact as well.

"Yes," Hermione smiled up at him, comfortingly.

Draco leaned down to kiss her then. If there was one thing he was certain of about this whole thing it was that Hermione would be a wonderful mother.

"Wow," Draco whispered. He's forehead was leaned against Hermione's forehead.

"I know," Hermione whispered back.

"I have to be honest, I'm terrified," Draco admitted.

"So am I Draco...so am I".


	19. The Unexpected Life

**Disclaimer: as previously said, this is the wonderful world of J.K Rowling and I'm just playing in it** **  
_**

Hermione was almost at the end of her first trimester. It had been a time filled with nausea and random magical outburst because she had gotten ticked off by the smallest things. Draco called her his ticking bomb. Something that had been the cause for a few of her outburst as she found the title extremely annoying.

All her girlfriends had been told of the news and it turned out Daphne Greengrass was pregnant too. She had become part of their group of friends as she was Theo's wife and he was both Draco and Blaise's friend so it had been natural for her to become their friend. The two young women had been comparing symptoms and worried about the actual giving birth part of things together and it had made them closer friends then they had been before.

Draco had been really stressed the first couple of weeks, but had slowly begun to get excited and worry more for the health of his wife and child than becoming a father. Both Hermione and Draco were reading all the books they could about pregnancy and parenthood and it was something that brought them closer together as husband and wife to prepare for the new addition to their family.

Harry and Ginny had their wedding shortly followed by Luna and Blaise. Almost everyone they knew had gotten married at this point.

Harry and Ginny, Ron and Parvati, Neville and Hanna, Theo and Daphne, Blaise and Luna and Draco and Hermione were now all one big friend group that no one thought would ever exist. They met regularly both all of them together or in smaller groups.

By this point they all knew that Draco and Theo were animagi and Blaise was a werewolf and it was nice for Blaise to finally be able to not hide it and to feel so accepted. He hadn't experienced that before, ever since he turned his mother was the only one who knew and she had never really looked at him the same, but now he had a support system and friends who cared and accepted him and Luna had turned out to be the perfect match for him.  
_

Hermione was sat in the garden reading a book when Draco came and sat beside her.

"I keep thinking that this is all just a dream, that I'm going to wake up one day and it will all be gone. You'll be gone, well not gone, but back to resenting me and I won't ever meet our child and it scares me. I have never been this happy in my life and I'm sometimes scared that it's not real."

Hermione turned to face Draco as she placed a hand on his cheek. He wasn't often this open about his concerns, he didn't want her to worry about anything.

"Draco, this is real, I'm real and we're happy and it's not going to go away. This is not a dream" she comforted him. And then they sat in silence and Hermione resumed to her book and Draco held his pregnant wife and looked at her and thought that she was the most beautiful thing to ever exist.  
_

 **So this wasn't the longest chapter, but I feel like I need to cut it off here because of what I have planned for the next chapter**


	20. The Baby Gender

**A.N: I have to apologize, again, for the long wait. I love this story so much and it has a special place in my heart. I want to write on in a lot more than my energy allows for. There aren't too many chapters left. I want to wrap the story up quite soon because I don't want to leave you guys hanging all the time and it's also starting to reach a point where I feel it's time. But don't worry, there are still some chapters left that I want to write.**

 **Also, as always, I love reading all your comments. I don't reply to a lot of them, but they make me so happy. It's so cool to see you interacting and letting me know your thoughts and things like that. It makes my, a lot of the times shitty, days a lot better. So, thank you. And thank you for being so patient and understanding. It warms my heart!**

 **Disclaimer: as always this is the world of J. K Rowling, I'm just playing in her sandbox.**

"Draco, can you please, for Merlin's sake, not chew so loudly!" Hermione huffed in exasperation.

Hermione was hormonal and uncomfortable. She was about half way through her pregnancy and she was not a happy woman. She didn't feel like herself. She would never get used to the way pregnancy messed with her body and her emotions.

"I'm chewing as quietly as I can love," Draco sighed.

"Whatever."

Hermione realized, somewhere in the back of her mind, that she was being irrational. She just could not help herself. It was like something inside her just wanted to be angry. Everything went on her nerves and she had had several _incidents_ with random outburst of magic. Very much to Draco's dismay, Hermione knew that, but, somehow, she couldn't bring herself to care too much at this stage. The only thing she cared about was finally having this pregnancy be over. Have her body back and have her precious baby in her arm already. She hated that it was still weeks away. At least they were finally going to find out the gender of their baby today. It was exciting and Hermione really looked forward to it.  
_

Draco was tired. No matter how much he loved his wife, he was really looking forward to this pregnancy being over. If he had thought Hermione had been emotional before, it was nothing compared to this. Her pregnancy hormones were everywhere. She was constantly annoyed with him and she kept tossing and turning all night and it made it hard to sleep.

Not that he had a right to complain, really, he wasn't the one growing a human being inside of him. He knew that Hermione was just as tired as he was, probably even more so. And they would be tired for years to come. Having children was not an easy job.

They were finding out of they were having a boy or a girl today. Theo and Daphne had found out last week. They were going to have a boy. Blaise and Luna were expecting now too. Luna was still in her first trimester though so they had a little ways left until they would know. Blaise had been really worried about having children in his condition, but he seemed to finally be allowing himself to be excited now.

Another milestone in the pregnancy would be reached. Draco recalled the first time he had been able to feel the baby kick. It had been the most amazing thing. Hermione had cried and he had nearly done so himself. He had gotten a little teary eyed for sure.  
_

Draco and Hermione sat in the waiting area at St. Mungo's. Hermione was feeling nervous and she knew Draco had noticed because he gave her hand a reassuring squeeze and kissed the top of her head. She didn't know why she was so nervous. Nothing about this would be dangerous or painful in anyway, that was all yet to come, but knowing the gender would make things feel so much more real.

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, we're ready for you now," A healer came and led them to an examination room.

Once they were in there Hermione was told to lie down on a bed and then the Healer started muttering something as she waved her wand above Hermione's stomach. Hermione felt a flutter as her baby moved inside her. It was like it was doing a summersault or something. It was the craziest feeling. It was absolutely wonderful.

The Healer pulled out some kind of instrument and put in on top of Hermione's bump before waving her wand and mumbling something quietly again. The instrument made a pinging noise.

"Congratulations, you're having a baby girl," the Healer announced.

Hermione looked up at Draco who leaned down to kiss Hermione softly on the lips.

"We're having a girl," Hermione whispered, her voice thick with emotion.

"I know," Draco said smiling at her.


	21. The Birth Of Emilia Malfoy

It's been way too long I know... I'm sorry... but here's a new chapter anyway.

Disclaimer: This is J.K Rowling's world, I'm just borrowing it.

"Draco, this is all your fault!" Hermione bellowed.

"Hermione, come on, it's going to be fine," Draco reasoned.

"If you were in this much pain you would not be saying that" Hermione panted.

She was lying in one of the guest beds at the Malfoy Manor waiting for a midwife to come over and check her out. She'd been having regular contractions for a while now and they were getting closer and closer to each other.

"I know having a baby is supposed to be this beautiful thing, but this is crap! How can it hurt so much? I am going to die" Hermione was so tired and she hadn't even gotten to the worst part yet.

"Hermione, love, this will all be over soon. And you're not going to die, I promise." He pushed her hair back and kissed her forehead.

Draco worried even though he knew she would be well taken care of. He had called for the best midwife in all if wizarding England. Only the best would be enough for his woman.

"The midwife is here," a small voice sounded from the door. It was one of the house elves.

"Please, send her in Tilly."

Being checked out was not a fun experience. But everything hurt anyway so why not this too. She felt so exposed with her legs open in front of a complete stranger. She was glad it was a woman.

It turned out that labour and delivery was pretty much how it was in the muggle world years ago.

During the actual pushing part if things the husband was not allowed in the room. And it was always done at home unless the midwife sensed that something seemed really wrong. Hermione had tried to protest, but they were strangely strict about it. Draco just accepted it because this was how things were and it was what he was used to having grown up in the wizarding world.

Ginny would be in the room with her though, and her mother too. They had gotten here not too long ago. There were a lot of people here actually, waiting for the baby to be born.

"Oh, my baby!" Mrs Granger wept as she entered the room with Ginny. She was so excited to become a grandmother and she felt weird that her baby was old enough to be having a baby.

"Mrs Granger, Ginny." Draco nodded in greeting to the two women.

"How are things?" Ginny asked.

"I am right here, I'm the one you should be asking, I'm the one who's supposed to push a human out if my lady parts." Hermione was fuming.

"Oh, I'm so sorry" Ginny apologized.

Hermione cried out in pain as she clutched Draco's hand. She didn't want him to leave her to do this by herself. She knew she wouldn't be completely alone, but it wouldn't be the same as having him there.

"I think you're ready to push soon my dear. You are fully dilated," the midwife exclaimed.

"How do I know when to start?" Hermione asked in a strained voice.

"Oh, you'll know," her mother answered.

"Okay, Mr Malfoy, you have to leave now," the midwife said, shooing him towards the door.

Hermione looked at him with pleading eyes, hoping he would protest. He looked her in the eyes instead and kissed her gently.

"I love you so much, you've got this. You are so strong and amazing, and I can't wait to meet our little baby girl," he whispered to her.

And the he walked out and Hermione wanted to cry, but just then she started to feel the need to push, so that made her want to cry for an entirely different reason.

Draco came into the drawing room two doors down from where Hermione was and was met with a full room. Everyone was there. The Weasley's, Theo with Daphne and their baby boy, Blaise with Luna, Potter, Mr Granger and all the house elves. Everyone was excited.

Suddenly they heard an ear-piercing scream. Draco shot up from the chair he had just sat down in and started to walk back to Hermione.

"Oi, mate it's okay," Theo told him.

"I know how you feel."

That was true, he had been through this a couple of weeks earlier, but it was different when it was your own wife. He wanted to hold her and comfort her and take away all the pain.

The time passed and there was more screaming and Draco sat nervously in a chair with his head in his hands. People kept trying to comfort him and tell him words of encouragement, but he couldn't really hear them, he was too worried about Hermione and the baby. He needed them both to be okay.

Suddenly there was the faint sound of a baby crying. Draco looked up. He looked around the room at the people he had gotten to know and care for since he'd married Hermione. They all smiled at him and shared excited looks with each other.

A little while later the door opened and the midwife entered the room, Draco stood up immediately

"Congratulations dad, would you like to come and meet you beautiful baby girl?" She asked him, giving him a friendly smile.

"Yes." Draco breathed, he couldn't seem to get his voice to a normal volume.

He followed the midwife back to the room and she held the door open for him. She motioned for him to go in. And then he saw them. He walked slowly toward Hermione who was holding a sleeping baby Emilia in her arms.

"We'll give you three some privacy," Mrs Granger said quietly and then the three women left the room and closed the door behind them.

"Hi," Draco whispered as he sat down at the edge of the bed.

"Hi," Hermione smiled up at him.

She looked tired and there were beads of sweat on her forehead and her hair was damp, but Draco thought that she had never looked this beautiful before. She was absolutely radiant.

And then she lifted the blanket so he could see Emilia properly and Draco was so overwhelmed with emotions that tears welled in his eyes and trickled down his cheeks. She was so perfect, so beautiful and amazing he didn't know how it was possible to love someone so much, someone he'd never even met until now.

"Hello, baby girl, I'm your daddy," he whispered, his voice thick as he held her little hand.

"I'm going to love you forever."


End file.
